Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
by LittleVampirateXX
Summary: Isabelle and Jack have been torn apart. Jack fights to get her back and carry out his plans to set sail to Untamed Waters and the Fountain of Youth... with deadly consequences. Along the way we meet Jack's family, sirens, mermaids and creatures that lurk in the dark. Featuring my OC Isabelle Norrington and sequel to my versions of the rest of the trilogy.Please R&R. JackxOC
1. The Call of the Sea

**Hey!**

**I'm back (obviously- hence the update)! That wasn't too long a wait was it? Hmmm? Told you I love you! Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last one.  
**

**Quick question- is Isabel a Mary-Sue, I'm getting really paranoid that she might be? Please be HONEST or I'll stop updating! **

**Lots of love, hugs and a small goldfish named Jeff.**

**LittleVampirate,**

**XX  
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I hated the sea.

It taunted me with its perilous beauty. It tricked me by looking calm and peaceful, but I knew how quickly it could turn against you at any given moment. But even when it tosses you around like something broken and unwanted you still feel a connection with it, an indescribably deep bond. A bond that is so strong that once it has formed, it is hard to break. And when you leave it, it tries to pull you back. It tugs at your heart and each wave that gently laps at the sand seems to call out your name. And there is something deep inside all of us that longs to answer that call. It usually isn't long before those of us who have fallen under the spell of the sea find ourselves crawling back to the gentle cruelty of the ocean.

I refused to be one of them.

I looked away from the window and pulled the curtain across. It screeched and juddered on the rail as if protesting about having to shut again. I lit a candle to make up for the lack of natural light and looked around the room. Although it was the same one I had occupied since the age of ten, I couldn't call it my own. It had very little to do with me at all. The things in it were just that- things. They meant nothing to me. There was nothing in it I particularly liked that much, they were things chosen _for_ me not _by_ me. Story of my life, really.

The bell tolled through the house at exactly six o'clock, they way it always did, always had and would continue to do until the day I die. It signalled that it was time for me to dine with my fiancé. The smell of the food filled my mouth as I opened the door, I choked on it, automatically retching and trying to get rid of it, but nothing came up. There was nothing left in my stomach to come up. I never ate because I never felt hungry. Empty? Yes, but hungry? No. It was not an emptiness that could be filled with food. Si there was little point in going to dinner. I wasn't going for the food, or the company, but still I went. Every evening I thought it might serve as a distraction and every evening I was proved wrong. Silence while in the same room as someone else was silence nonetheless and silence was no kind of distraction at all. I knew each time would be the same because for the three weeks I had been imprisoned here every dinner had started and ended the same.

The first course brought silence. I sipped at the soup. Three sips before I tipped the rest of the spoonful back into the bowl.

With the main course came silence. Until George was almost finished.

"Isabel, you're not eating." George's voice snapped me out of my distracted stupor. Did he have to state the obvious all the time? I didn't bother to lift my eyes from where they were staring, unfocused at the food I was pushing around my plate until his shadow leant over me.

"I'm not hungry," I said listlessly. My tone and food were as cold as I feel. He sighed.

"You haven't eaten properly since we got here. I don't think I've seen you eat anything in the past three days," he sounded angry. I looked at the pile of mush I was still moving from one end of my plate to the other. I didn't even know what it was. It didn't look very nice, but by now it was probably several different things compressed together.

"I have," I disagreed automatically.

"Really? What?"

I rummaged through the fog of my memory, but to be perfectly honest, each day was exactly the same as the one before it and the one that followed that it was getting increasingly hard to distinguish between them. "I had an apple yesterday," I said, hoping that it was yesterday I had had said apple.

"One bite doesn't count," he said. "And that was on Tuesday."

"Oh," I said. That could have been yesterday, for all I knew. I had no idea what day it was today. I looked back down at my plate. I probably should eat something, even if I didn't feel like it.

"Belle-" he started. Something inside me broke as quickly as my head snapped up to glare at him.

"_**Don't call me that!**_" I said so fiercely he recoiled. I could feel the emotions burning in my eyes, so I lowered them. It wasn't something he needed to see. Nobody was allowed to call me Belle. Except… well, not anymore.

"Izzy," he tried again. I smoothed my expression back over. It was like putting on a mask. When other people were there I could hide behind it and I felt protected. The thing was that it was easily broken. Certain words, certain reminders like the name Belle, or the sea brought it crumbling down around me. "You have to eat something."

I shoveled up some food and raised the fork to my lips; it was cold, but not too bad. He sat back and watched me eat with a creepy kind of satisfaction. I raised an eyebrow at him, "Happy?"

He gave a bark of laughter, "For just now." He grew more serious, "You need to let go of it all, Izzy. It's in the past now."

I felt my recently swallowed food stick in my throat. I gulped down some of whatever was in my glass. It didn't taste very nice. I swallowed and coughed at points so close together that they were almost the same motion. George laughed again, "What an elegant noise, Isabel." I felt myself smile half-heartedly despite myself. It was a brief reminder of why I friends with him in the first place. I honestly believed he had done me a favour by stopping me from making the biggest mistake of my life. Even if it had resulted in the eternal misery I was now wallowing in. George cleared his throat.

"We're having company tomorrow for dinner," he said. I stopped eating.

"Alright," I shrugged, but by the way he cleared his throat again I knew he wasn't finished.

"And… er, there's some people coming round to fit your wedding dress after."

I nodded, "Alright." We had almost gone two days without the W word coming up. I threw my fork down and pushed my chair back. It scraped against the wood of the floor. George winced at the harsh sound. I flung a 'Goodbye' over my shoulder as I left the room.

Someone had opened my curtains and there was the sea.

The window was open and I could hear the call of the sea. It called louder and louder every day, and now that my window was open it came screaming into my room. I would not answer. It made my eyes swim with salty tears. I ran to the window, slammed it shut and tugged at the curtain. I backed away from it and curled up in the opposite corner with my hands over my ears, but it was no use. As if the glass could muffle the sound. As if that thin fabric could stop the sea from haunting me. It would always haunt me. There was nothing I could do to rid myself of it, but I could not return. I would not let the bond pull me back. I knew that the sea was as enchanting and treacherous as those who sailed on her. It would pull you in and without warning turn on you and leave you drowning. That's exactly what was happening. I had been enchanted and left to drown.


	2. Dreams

**Hey, short chapter, I know, but it was going to be part of another one an now it's not. If it's too short you can talk to nineteennintytwo about that! (Kidding- I love her don't take it out on her!)**

**LOVE YOU ALL!**

**LV  
XX  
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"Belle! Belle!" I know that voice. I know it so well I can tell there's something wrong with it. It's not anything I can really put my finger on, but it is there. It's missing something, but no matter how hard I search my brain for a clue as to what is wrong or something to help me change it I can't find the bit that's missing. It's not just that voice that has something missing from it. The colours aren't right either. They're less vivid and seem to be out of focus, blurred around the edges. Sounds aren't as sharp as they once were and there aren't as many as I know there should be. I can't feel the small things like the wind or someone's breath on the back of my neck. "Belle!" he says again before I turn._

_And there he is._

_"Jack," I hear my own voice, but I can't tell if I said it or thought it. I concentrate on his face. That's not right either. Again, I can't pinpoint why. All the basic features are there. The eyes are brown, the dreadlocks are there, as are the beads. But are the eyes really that shade of brown? And what is wrong with the sparkle in his eye? It's so lifeless and flat, much less animated. Are all the beads right? Are they the right shape, colour, size. Is there enough? Is there too many? Where is his hat? Why isn't it sitting on top of that bandanna? He walks towards me. I don't feel his breath on my face as he bends to kiss me. I can feel his kiss though. Sort of. But even that's not quite right. It's not really there and neither am I._

_He takes my hand and lead me away from the dock where the Pearl is moored and up to the fort. I don't have time to wonder where everyone else is. We reach the top and look out over Port Royale. I knew the journey should have been longer than that. The sun glitters half-heartedly on the sea which is the wrong shade of blue. He turns to me, "Do you want to leave here?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Be like me," he says. "Become a Sparrow."_

_I hear female laughter. I look around for where it came from. "How?" I ask him._

_Another peel of laughter and Scarlette appears by his shoulder. She puts and arm around him and leans into his shoulder as he turns me round to face him. My back is now to the sea, but I'd rather look at him. Giselle drops herself over his other arm._

_"Tell her, Jackie," she coos._

_"Before you can be a Sparrow," he hisses, his smile twists and turns cold. "You have to learn to fly." He leans right in close, his lips hovering by my ear and he wispers something. "Do you want to know a secret, Belle?" I nod. "You can't fly… and you will __**never**__ be a Sparrow."_

_He pushed me and I fall. I fall. I fall and fall and fall and I can't stop. The word__s "you'll never be a Sparrow…" ring in my ears and bounce around in my head. I can't feel the wind rushing past me, but I can still hear his voice echoing in my head. I hit the water and I sink down and down and I don't think I'm ever going to stop._

***

The world flickered between my room and the sea, between dreams and reality. Eventually it evaporated completely and I was left with my room. I hated sleeping. When you dream it is incredibly hard to change what you're dreaming about. You can't control the dream even if you want to. That particular dream had brought back the cold, hard reality that I was forgetting him. The things that were missing were things I had forgotten. It was only small things, certain tiny mannerisms and small miss able things like the exact way he walked. Those things in his appearance I would never be able to alter in my memory. I would never be able to see if my memory was right about the shade of his eyes, or exactly how many beads there were in his hair. I would never be able to get it right because I would never see him again. And soon he would slip from my mind completely and I would never be able to tell the difference between the real Jack and the one stuck in my dreams.

Eventually he would become a burr before he disappeared completely.


	3. The Dress

I had forgotten how insufferably _boring _the upper-class were. It really was dire I have no idea how I managed to survive them for so long. They were all so nosy and bitchy. Of course it wasn't something I could really pick them up on; they were far too sly for that, I just had to suffer through it.

The first hour of dinner was spent listening to people congratulating us on our engagement, telling their own ridiculously boring wedding stories and asking us stupid questions our 'big day'. Luckily, George took care of all the questions and all I had to do was sit there and nod along and smile like an idiot. I could tell that these conversations were not really why they were all here. Beneath the pleasantness and pretend interest simmered the desire for gossip. We knew what gossip they were after and knew it was only a matter of time before someone brought it up. George obviously thought it was best that we be the first to mention it, so it didn't look like we were hiding anything (which we were), so he did his best to slip it in after a question from some old fat man I couldn't even remember the name of. I was sure he had been asleep for the last fifteen minutes. In response to his question about why it was taking us so long to finalise wedding plans (which I though was rude of him) he answered by saying, "Well, we had to give Isabel time to recover."

And that was it. That was all it took.

Everyone in the room became horribly interested in me. I was the new gossip given my recent 'kidnap' by pirates. George had drilled the story firmly into my head, down to the tiniest detail so all I had to do was sit there with a huge smile plastered over my face and tell it the way I'd been told to. I barely knew them and yet they had to know _every _detail of what had happened to me since I had last been in Port Royale. I tried to change the subject countless times, but it was all to no avail. They were _desperate _to hear every tiny little thing that happened to me, probably because their own lives weren't interesting enough. So I gave them what they wanted to hear. It was the best way to shut them up. Had I told them the truth they would have been so confused, so shocked that I would have been bombarded with awkward and insignificant questions. If they had heard about the Brethren Court, the _Flying Dutchman _and her Captains (both new and old), Calypso and the journey to the land of the dead they would have thought I was mad and I would most probably be disowned by the lot of them and locked away for a very long time. The truth was just that unbelievable.

Distancing myself from the actual events made it so much easier for me to talk about it. It didn't bring back any memories and I actually got some fun out of their reactions. Telling the truth and remembering would have been too hard. It was much better to live a lie than wallow in the painful truth.

It gave me some amusement that none of them seemed to be capable of saying the word 'pirate'. All the questions asked purposefully avoided the word. They said things like, "Were… _they_… as savage as they seem." And, "Was it horrible… you know… with _them?_"

I was in a pretty good mood by the end of the whole thing and starting to play it up a little. These people were so easily shocked and engrossed in the intricate web of lies I was spinning over them. It came as a shock when George informed me I had to leave. He didn't look best pleased. Not that that bothered me. I glanced at him, "Why?"

"Your dress fitting," he replied and my good mood crumbled back to that false smile and fake cheeriness.

"Then do excuse me," I nodded politely to our guests. "Thank you all for coming, it was lovely to see you."

***

I endured _hours _of pulling, tugging, pinning, sowing and altering that stupid dress before everyone else was happy with it. I couldn't have cared less about the bloody thing, but that opinion didn't really matter. There were three women attacking me with needles and various different sizes of pins. I tried to strike up a conversation with them, but they didn't speak any English. They muttered darkly to each other in some foreign language. It wasn't all that encouraging to be honest. They pulled in the corset to suffocating level of tight, but that was what I had been expecting so I was ready for it. A few months out of corsets had meant it was a bit of a shock to return to them. Even I had to admit that it was a lovely dress. When you are younger you dream about the perfect wedding and the perfect dress, but none of that matters if you're marrying the wrong man. When they had finished torturing me with sharp sewing-related objects one of the women stepped back and nodded to me saying something that sounded more cheerful than the rest of it had. I smiled back at her before she ushered her friends out of the room, still talking away in their language.

When they didn't come back I assumed they were finished with me. I walked the lonely way back up to my room. The house had mostly all gone to sleep at that point, so I met no-one on my way up. My door was open and my room lit only by one single candle. The window was open again.

Open wider than before.

The curtains were billowing around in the wind that was gushing through. My hands started shaking. I ran across and slammed it shut, jerked the curtains across and breathed deeply to calm myself down. I bit my lip to stop my eyes from watering. The door slammed behind me. I jumped at the sound and spun around. Someone stepped out from the shadows of my room and into the flickering candlelight.

"Hello, Belle," he said. It didn't make me angry to hear it. It made me feel a whole lot of things, but not anger. The overwhelming number of emotions drew a broken whisper from my lips.

"Jack…"


	4. Answers

**So, I know it's been longer than usual, but here's the deal. I have my prelim exams at the moment, so I CAN NOT update for a while. You will all just have to wait until my exams are over. I'll do what I can when I can, but don't hold your hopes too high. And sorry if I don't have time to reply to reviews. I'm not being rude I just can't do it.**

**LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!**

LV  
XX  


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My throat closed up and the lump that had formed stopped any more words from coming out. Everything was slowly falling away. It felt as if they were trying to fall into place, but they couldn't quite make it. I could see the tiny details that I had missed in my memory. It was enough to prove that this wasn't a dream. I had known it was him from the second he had spoken. The voice was so unmistakably his and so very, very real.

It hadn't been that long since Jack had abandoned me in Tortuga, but it felt like it had been a lifetime ago. It was as if he had just been part of a very vivid dream, the kind that stays with you in detail long afterwards purely because it is so far removed from what you've been used to and what you've been looking for, or wanting that it surprises you in the best way. It makes your ordinary life seem much duller by comparison. But a dream is just a dream and at some point it has to end and sooner or later you have to return to reality. But here Jack was, in my reality. The two worlds had joined, overlapped at the edges and merged into each other, but _why? _

"What are you doing here?" I managed to breathe quietly so as not to raise any suspicions among the rest of the house. Had he come to mess up my life even more?

I raised my eyes to meet his. Big mistake. How could I have forgotten his eyes and the power they held over me? They dissolved my mask and, despite it being the last thing I wanted I knew he could see everything I was feeling. How could anyone miss it? I was so exposed. I might as well have run around him in circles screaming everything I was thinking and feeling at the top of my voice and scribbling it over everything I could touch. But that may have been a bit loud.

"Don't worry," his voice was cold, but still managed to make my heart pound so loudly in my ears I thought that the whole of Port Royale must be able to hear it. Maybe the neighbours would come round and complain. "I won't be here long. I just want answers."

"Answers?" I echoed, even my tones matched his. "I don't know anything that could possibly be of any use to you, so please leave me alone." His eyes were missing the sparkle, but they weren't as lifeless as they had been in my memory. The sparkle had been replaced by anger. He took a small step forward. I took a tiny one back.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" he asked accusingly, choosing to answer my question with one of his own. "You didn't go back to the _Pearl _like you promised. Or were you part of their plan too?"

"There was no _Pearl _for me to go back to," I said, raising my chin to meet his gaze and even though I felt like the world was about to disappear from under me I stood tall. I didn't want him to know that even now he was still hurting me. "You left me."

He started shaking. He was visibly trembling all over. "So you _were _part of it? You _helped _them? What were you meant to be? A distraction? Or was the mutiny your idea, just so you could get away and come back here and marry _him_? I should have known! That's all you ever wanted!"

"Jack…" I tired to interrupt, but he wasn't finished. Couldn't he of all people see that this wasn't what I wanted?

"Well it worked, you'll be pleased to hear. I've lost the _Pearl _and I have no hope of getting her back. I can't follow the compass, and do you want to know why?" he asked, it was clear he was going to tell me anyway. He took another step forward. "Because of _you. _It took me back here. You broke it! I don't want to be here! It took me to what I want least in this world… I don't want you. I _hate _you."

He glared at me as I tried to regain the breath that seemed to have been punched out of me. "They… they mutinied… _again_?"

He looked away from me. "As if you didn't know!"

I took a step towards him and he took two back. "I didn't," I said softly.

He sighed disbelievingly and rolled his eyes, "I don't know why I bothered coming here."

He turned away. I could feel him slipping away from me, like I was waking up. I didn't want to I really didn't. The reality started seeping in again. There was one thing I could do to grip onto everything that was falling away from me. "I love you!" I said, perhaps louder than I meant to.

It made him stop, but when he turned to face me it forced nothing but a harsh laugh and bitter words from his mouth. "If that were true, why would you be wearing _that?" _

I looked down. I was still wearing my wedding dress. I had forgotten. Now I knew how bad this looked. No wonder he was looking at me with such disgust and contempt. I shook my head at him, trying to formulate the right words. "I don't want to be here. I didn't know about the mutiny… I thought you… I thought you'd left…"

"I don't have to listen to this!" he fumed, turning away again.

"How could you think I want **this**?!?! How could you think I would chose living like _this _over freedom?!?" my voice started to tremble, I lowered it. "How could you think I'd choose George over you?"

Sobs threatened to overload my senses and I fought to get anything out. I gulped them back, choking as they tried to escape. My hands were shaking as much as my bottom lip. I squeezed my eyes shut as a barrier against the unstoppable wave of tears that somehow managed to sneak out from under my lids. I felt Jack take my hands and steady them in his. I looked up at his blurred outline, "…I love you!" I said again. My voice rose a pitch or two on account of the large lump in my throat which they had to squeeze around.

He didn't reply. He didn't need to. I felt his lips brush against mine and I closed my eyes. His familiar arms and smell wrapped around me like a warm, safe blanket and I was calm. His lips pressed against mine and I knew his answer.


	5. A Close Call

**Hey, this was going to be part if a bigger chapter, but it got very big, so I decided to split it in two- sorry if you think this one's a little slow, but that's why. The next bit will be up either tomorrow or Friday!**

**Chelsea: Of course I'm not offended or anything. You are entitled to your opinion and I know you are just trying to improve my work so thank you! I think you're right. Now I have more time to focus on it, do you think I should re-write it? **

**LadyLit: Thanks! Enjoy!**

**Love you all!**

**LV **

**XX**

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The hand which was resting gently on the small of my back pulled my hips towards his. It then moved to join his other one between my shoulder blades. I could feel his finger tips on the ties of my dress. I knew what he was trying to do, but it didn't repulse me like it should have or force me to pull away from him. It had the opposite effect. I pulled myself closer to him as his kiss deepened. My heart beat faster in my chest and sent jolts coursing through my veins. Something brushed against my forehead as he began to kiss my neck. I reached up to take off his hat, but a knock made me jump back before I could do so. We stared at each other. He was breathing just as heavily as me. We listened to the silence, neither of us daring to move or make a sound. My heart was still hammering but in a completely different way. The silence stretched on longer and longer and when the next booming knock came both of us jumped.

"Isabel?" Ellie, my maid, called to me. I exhaled with relief that it wasn't George and moved closer to Jack, reaching up to put my lips by his ear.

"Hide," I breathed. "It's only Ellie, but we can't take anymore chances."

He nodded and ran the back of his finger along my cheek. His mouth turned up at the corners to match the smile in his eyes. I reached up again fleetingly to press my lips lightly on his. I heard scrambling behind me as I crossed to the door. Ellie called for me again and she sounded increasingly worried. I glanced back, my room appeared to be empty, and so I opened the door. Ellie's anxious face flooded with relief.

"I couldn't find you anywhere, Miss. I was getting worried you'd been kidnapped!" she said as she bustled past me.

"Kidnapped?" I repeated uneasily. Thoughts and worries that Jack had been spotted in Port Royale raced through my mind. I tried to keep my tone light. "Why would you think that?"

She looked at me with raised eyebrows, "Well, it wouldn't exactly be the first time now would it?" I laughed along with her. Her smile was tinged with sympathy. "You do have the worst luck with them- you and Miss Swann."

"Yes, I suppose you could say that," I gave her a small smile. I could tell by the way she was looking at me that she was trying to decide exactly how to say something. I waited as she tilted her head to one side.

"What happened to Miss Swann?" she asked tentatively. I sighed heavily as if the subject was a difficult one to talk about, but it wasn't. Not anymore. Not now that a certain pirate was back. I had avoided talking about Elizabeth. I hated to admit it, but thinking about her freedom had caused a horrible knot of jealousy and resentment towards her. I couldn't help it and it wasn't something I wanted to feel, I knew that she would be having a hard time, but I couldn't help what I was feeling. But now the knot was loosened and beginning to come undone. Now that Jack was here. I tried to stop myself from smiling at that thought and focused on looking distressed. I lowered my gaze.

"I don't know…" I sighed again. "We were separated… I hope she's alright."

The last bit was true. I did hope she was alright and coping with Will's departure, but I knew where she was and we hadn't been separated at all. At least not physically. There had been a bit of a rift (and by that I mean a huge, yawning chasm) in our friendship over the course of the past few months, but it was over now. Ellie looked at my sympathetically.

"I'm sure she's fine," she said in a tone that clearly showed she didn't believe what she was saying. "And I'm sure those stories of her turning pirate aren't true. They weren't true about you and Miss Swann would never hurt a fly."

I cringed inwardly as there was a snort of disbelief from under my bed. Ellie froze. "Did you hear that?" she frowned at me. I did my best to look as confused as possible.

"Hear what?" I asked, cocking my head to one side in an imitation of hers. I pretended I was listening really hard. I loved Ellie and there were times, not unlike this one, when I wanted to tell her everything, but she was a frightful gossip. I knew every detail of every serving member in the household as intimately as if I had lived it alongside them. I knew that if there was a change in anything from the kitchen staff to the neighbours' garden. I knew there was no way on this earth that I could ever tell her, so I did what I did best. I looked straight into her eyes and lied. "I didn't hear anything."

"Oh," she shrugged and within a matter of seconds she had shaken it off and was back on track. I listened to her stories of the kitchen boy's mother's friend's sister's new baby, or maybe it was the kitchen boy's friend's mother's sister's new baby (I lost track after a while). She helped me change, if she noticed that a few of the ties were loose (courtesy of Jack) she didn't say anything, she was too busy babbling away. I rolled away the dressing screen and she put away my wedding dress. I watched her fold it away. She needn't be so careful; it was never getting out of its box again. She turned to leave, but I called her back, rummaging around in my drawer. When my hand scraped past all the clutter in there and closed over my purse I pulled it out. I tipped the contents into her palm and stepped back. She blinked at me.

"What's this?" she stared at the money in her hand. I pulled back the covers and climbed into bed.

"Just a thank you," I said. "For looking after me. Do what you like with it, but _try _and keep it to yourself. I'm not sure if George would approve." I knew this was a tall order for her, but if she could keep her mouth shut until I left then it would no longer matter. And by the way she was looking at me it seemed I had done the impossible and rendered her speechless. She nodded slowly and turned away again, putting it into her apron pocket.

"Goodnight, Miss,"she said over her shoulder as she left. The shock was melting and flickering into confusion. I was sure that with her sharp wit she would have guessed when morning came that I had not vanished, but left of my own accord. I wanted to make sure she would be alright when I wasn't in the household. Would there still be a place for her? There was a series of scrambling from under my bed. The mattress dipped as Jack lay down and slipped his arms around me.

"It's just me, love," he murmured as I moved over to lean my head on his chest. We listened to Ellie's footsteps fade.

"Thank goodness for that!" I whispered back. "I thought it was a giant rat with all that racket!"

He laughed and kissed the top of my head before resting his chin on it. His fingers entwined with my hair. I listened to the sound of his heart beat and pulled his body closer to mine, inhaling his wonderfully familiar scent. His arms were warm and familiar and I felt comfortable enough to fall asleep there. I closed my eyes, "I missed you, Jack."

"I missed you too, Belle," he said. A warmth spread through me and my veins tingled. He stopped stroking my hair for a moment, "We should probably leave."

"Yeah," I nodded. Neither of us moved. "How did you get in?"

"The door," he said as if it were obvious.

"And no-one saw you?" I asked.

"Nah, you were all busy with your dinner," he said. I nodded because it made sense. Then something else made me stop.

"How did you know this was my room?" There was a silence. I pulled away from him and looked up at him in the half-dark. "...Jack?"

"Well, I thought the dresses hanging in here were a little bit girly even for George and... it was the only room I went into that smelt like you." I was dislodged as he pulled away and sat up. He swung his legs over the edge and sat with his back to me. He'd been made uncomfortable with that little revelation, but it made me smile and my heart ache in a good way. I sat up and crawled over to him. I turned his face towards mine and kissed him gently.

"Lets go," I said.


	6. A Letter

"Isabel, what _are _you doing?" Jack shook his head at me and I dipped a long, white quill into a pot of ink.

"Leaving a note for George," I replied, not looking up until he snatched the quill from my hand. I sighed. "Give it back!"

"No!" he said stubbornly, putting it behind his back. "I shan't!"

"Jack!" I rolled my eyes as he dangled it above my head. I eyed it like a cat watching a bird, but I refused to swipe for it. I was not a cat and the situation would end up with my ungraceful falling over and landing in a heap at Jack's feet. I watched it swing above me. "He deserves an explanation."

"There are a lot of things that man deserves, but an explanation is not one of them!" Jack said fiercely. "He doesn't deserve _anything _to do with you." He shoved me out of the way. He began furiously scribbling away on the parchment which I had previously got as far as writing '_Dear Geor-'. _I took a hesitant step towards Jack. "Erm… Jack what are you doing?"

"Leaving a note for George," he echoed, but somehow it sounded a lot more sinister when he said it.

"Erm…" I said again, wondering how to voice my discomfort without forcing him to turn his clear annoyance on me. He was scratching the quill so hard on the parchment I thought that he might rip it. This would probably be for the best. I was doubtful that George's letter would be anything he wanted to read. Or even anything _I _wanted him to read. He didn't even look up, he was in full flow. "Get something more practical on," was all he said. I wasn't sure that he was even blinking.

I raised my eyebrows at him, not that he was looking. "Oh yes, my life is full of practical clothing (!) George loves it when I wear my pirate clothes (!)." I doubt he noticed how much sarcasm was dripping from my voice.

All he said was, "Shut up, Belle."

I pulled the simplest and most comfortable dress out and slipped in on over my nightdress. It would do until I could find something aboard the _Pearl_. What would we do? Could we even go back to the _Pearl_? What about Barbossa? What we do? Where would we go? I hadn't thought any further than getting out of Port Royale. I hadn't thought past getting out of this room.

"There," said Jack brightly, interrupting my thoughts. His bad move had evaporated, which was good for me, but bad for whatever was in his note. His smile offered me little comfort. I plucked it out of his hands and scanned his words. He leaned back and watched me with satisfaction. Halfway through the first sentence I glanced up at him.

"Jack! We can't leave this!"

"Why not?" He looked genuinely disappointed by my verdict. "I though I was being considerably polite, given the circumstances."

"Well you're not!" I carried on with the rest of the note. It was all downhill from there. "I'm not even sure that's a word!"

He leaned over to see which of his hastily scrawled words was the one confusing me. He looked unashamedly pleased with himself. "Everything's a word once you've said it and that one cleans him up quite nicely."

I shook my head at the mischievous light in his eyes. It did make me smile though. I tried my best to hide it from him. It was hard to be believably angry if you were grinning at the one you were supposed to be angry with. "We're not leaving this for George."

"We are."

"No, we're not. There are no valid reasons for it." I tired to be as reasonable as I could. There was a reason for it of course, but not one that deserved something as harsh as this.

"There is, I wrote them on the back," he said I should have known he'd have an answer for anything! I flipped the sheet of paper over and raised my eyebrows at him.

"You wrote them under '_Reasons I Hate You'?"_

"Yup," his smile widened. "Good title, eh?"

I masked my obvious urge to laugh by sighing as I read his list. I rolled my eyes at him as I got to number twelve. "I refuse to leave this, Jack!" I pulled out another piece of parchment and started afresh. Jack grumbled in a disgruntled fashion in the background. Then he stopped.

"Is this yours?" he held up a few piece of jewellery. I shrugged.

"Probably." I glanced up and smiled at the look in his eyes. "Feel free to steal what you want, I don't care."

"It's not stealing if you feel free when you do said stealing," he pointed out. Then he laughed, "Ha! George will not be happy. I'm stealing you too."

I looked back up from the blank page. I still hadn't written anything down yet. My eyes met his, "Taking what is already yours is not stealing either."

I looked back down as he rifled through my possessions. The page stared back at me. After a while it began to taunt me with its clean, white emptiness. I lifted the quill several times and put it back down again. It seemed to me to be unusually heavy. There were no words I could think of to write. I went over and over what I wanted to say in my head. I didn't want him to know that I was with Jack or that my disappearance had anything to do with him, because then he would know where to find me. If he found the _Pearl_ he would surely find Jack and I. And if we weren't there then he would find my friends and I didn't want anyone to come to any harm on my part. So I settled for,

_Dear George,_

_I would say that I am sorry, but the truth is I'm not._

_I don't belong here like I used to. __I need to be free to do my own thing and I can't do that here. I need to be happy and that will never happen if I stay in Port Royale. I wish you all the best for you have been a good friend over the years._

_Yours truly,_

_Isabel_

_X_

"You didn't use my word," Jack sounded disappointed as he read over my shoulder. "And I may not have been all that polite, but I think you are running the risk of being a bit too polite."

I smiled at him, reaching up to touch his cheek, "Can we just go, please?"

He nodded and took my hand as we walked out of my room. By now the household was in darkness. We had to feel our was down the stairs and along to the front door. I reached out for the handle. Jack's grip on me tightened.

"Bugger," he whispered by my ear. I turned to look at him.

"What have we here?" George's cold tones floated out of the darkness.

_Bugger._


	7. Escape

I heard a gasp slip out of my mouth. Jack circled an arm around my waist and I leaned in towards him. I just had to look at him for my racing heart to still. He was smart, he was sly, he was experienced and he could get out of anything. I knew this through experience. There had only ever been one situation he hadn't been able to slip away from. Only one thing he hadn't been able to outrun and only one thing that had beaten him. And I wasn't going to let that happen again. Not now and not ever. I looked into the darkness, searching for George. There was a scratch and then a flame sparked and fizzled into life. It flickered in the air, misshaping George's features and twisting them so that he didn't even look like himself anymore. He looked down at us in the silence from the top of the stairs. I tiled my head to look up at him. I felt compelled to say something.

"George…" It was as far as I could go. I didn't know what to say. The years that we had been friends flashed through my mind. We had had fun until everything had changed. I had changed, he had changed and now I had no idea who he was. I knew that somewhere inside him was the same person who had been with me through the lonely days when James was away and Elizabeth was busy either with her own family or later on with Will. It was that that was pulling me towards him. I still had ties to sever with him, bridges to burn. I couldn't finish that sentence because I didn't know how to. I thought about repeating what I had just written, but I couldn't remember any of it. The only words that could form in my mind were the ones Jack had written and I didn't think that would be at all appropriate.

"Isabel," he said coldly. "Where do you think you're going?"

"She's going home," Jack replied for me.

"This _is_ her home," said George. I shook my head and my voice filled with such conviction that it came as a surprise even to me.

"No is it isn't. I have occupied this building, I have spent most of my waking and sleeping moments between these walls, but I have never really _lived _here. This place has never been my home. I belong on the _Pearl_, I belong with Jack."

George's laugh sent a cold shiver racing up and down my spine. "Not if he's dead you don't."

"You won't kill him," I said. I sounded more sure than I felt. My sweating palms and quickening heartbeat were testimony to that. I hoped that I was right, something in his eyes that made me think otherwise.

"Why wouldn't I?" he challenged.

"Because I know that if you care about me in the same way that I care about you you, then you wouldn't want to make me unhappy. I love Jack and if you kill him, there is no way I will stay with you."

"You will," he said. I prayed that his assumed certainty was as false as mine. "I will find you and bring you back."

"But you can't keep me. I'll just keep leaving; you might as well let us both go now." I said, trying to sound as reasonable, but feeling pretty desperate at the same time. "What would you do, you couldn't just lock me up."

"I could," he argued. "If that's what it takes. I need this. I need this promotion."

I shook my head at him. "You wouldn't…"

"I would. If you leave I will find you. I will find all of your little friends and I will kill them _all. _Stay and I may reconsider." His expression changed. I didn't like the change. "Now I think about it, I've just remembered that I brought this," He pulled out a gun. It glinted in the candle light. "What's to stop me from shooting him now?"

I tried to push Jack behind me. "Run," I whispered to him. "Get out of here."

"No without you," he said. And then he tugged me towards the door. We stumbled through it, ducking as a shot was fired blindly into the darkness. I heard it ping off something. I took that ping as a good sign. It meant that the bullet hadn't hit either of us. We ran into the dark. I kept a tight grip on his hand, making sure that he was still here, still with me. I didn't look back as we ran away from that prison of a house. I didn't want to know if we were being followed or chased. I didn't want to see if George was behind us. I pulled Jack into a dark and narrow street and we stopped.

"What are you doing?" he was breathing heavily. "We have to keep going! I've got a dingy moored on the beach- the docks were full."

"Go without me." I interrupted him.

"What?!"

"Go!" I shrieked louder than I meant to. "If you go now I can go back. He's going to kill you and everyone aboard the _Pearl_. I should stay."

"There's a way round it," he said. I shook my head.

"I don't want their blood on my hands!"

"It won't be," he said soothingly. "We can get out of this." I froze as there was a shout in the dark. The words were undistinguishable, but the voice was unmistakably George's. It was answered by another shout and then a few more. Jack took my hands in his. "I will kill him if I have to, but I'm not leaving here without you ever again, love."

I wasn't sure how I felt about Jack killing George. I knew that that would free both of us, but I didn't want to be responsible for the death of a friend. If it was someone I didn't know that James had married me off to, the idea wouldn't give me so much trouble, but George and I had a history. Admittedly it was a bad one towards the end, but that was not the way it had always been. I looked at Jack. "I love you," was all I said before we started running again. Jack's hand met mine in the air and our feet charged across the ground. We turned a corner and there it was. The sea.

I loved the sea.

It winked at me in the moonlight, teasing me with its perilous beauty. It didn't look calm and peaceful. It didn't seem to me to be lying dormant like it had for the past few months. It wasn't screaming for me anymore. It knew I was coming back and it babbled away happily, preparing to welcome me home. My feet skimmed over the cobbles, barely touching them. I was filled with such an adrenaline and euphoria I felt as if I was flying. It didn't matter that my heart was pumping painfully in my chest because that just meant that it was pumping my sea-enchanted blood around my body infecting every pore, every organ and every limb. The sea's spell was running through my veins. It had long ago got under my skin and seeped it's way into my heart, but as I had forced it to stay dormant for too long, not wanting to admit that, although it was not what I had been born as, pirate was in my blood.

Wind streamed through my fingers. It stung at my eyes and whipped around my body as if we were engaged in some kind of crazy dance. I could taste salt on my lips and feel my feet pounding on the ground. The gentle whispers and laughter of the sea were carried on the wind to my ear and dance around me. Waves broke on the shore, reaching up the sand to greet me, my heart leaped out to meet them. It hadn't quite got there before the sea pulled back, unsure as to whether or not I was finally going to answer their call. I was. I really was. Because no matter how treacherous the sea was I knew it was making one promise it could never, ever break. It was that promise I could taste and smell and hear above all other things. It was the promise of freedom. It rose up inside me the way a wave swells before it breaks. My feet were almost touching the sand. Just a few yards of street left.

It was then that the world began to shake beneath my feet.


	8. The Aftermath

**Hello everyone!**

**Did you have a good Christmas (or holiday if you don't celebrate it)? Think of this as a late prezzie for you all! I've been thinking more about the spin-off thing from Jack's POV. Do you think I should do it? If so do you;**

**a) think it should be a song-fic summing the whole thing up**

**b) think it should be the whole thing from his PoV**

**c) want to choose which bits I do and don't do from his PoV from each story.**

**d) all of the above and then some cheese- Please note if you pick this then I will cry... and you don't want that do you? DO YOU??  
**

**Love you lots more than jelly tots!**

**LV  
XX  
**

* * *

I smashed against the ground. I winced as pain shot up and down every limb in my body. Everything felt either grazed or bruised and I knew I was bleeding somewhere. I would have screamed, maybe that's what I started doing, but my lungs were full of dust and I choked it out. It was in my eyes, blinding me as I tried to push myself up from the still shaking ground. I propped myself up onto my hands and looked around for Jack. There was a shape lying in the dust a few inches from me. I stuck out my hands and my fingertips brushed against the small, triangular object.

Jack's hat.

I picked it up and kept crawling forwards, calling out for Jack and being knocked to the ground as I did so. I don't think he heard me, even I couldn't hear me. The ground was rumbling loudly and booms from all around completely deafened me, my ears were ringing. My voice had to scratch its way out past the lumps of dust clotting in my throat and anything that got out was snatched away by roars that were so loud I couldn't hear them. I couldn't hear anything. I found Jack lying in the dust. He didn't move as I put my arms around him and tried to shield his body with my own. I buried my face into his back. I couldn't tell if he was moving or not, so many other things were. The world continued to judder and shake. My ears were buzzing over the sound of things crashing down around us. Then, as suddenly as it started, it was all over.

I stayed frozen where I was for a moment or two, making sure that it had stopped and I was still alive. For all I knew I could be dead. I tentatively raised my head. Dust was settling on everything and in the aftermath of the earthquake there was nothing but a dreadful silence. Port Royale had been left reeling by the tremors which had been so loud that it made every sound after it seem impossibly quiet. I propped myself up next to Jack.

"It's safe now," I told him. He didn't move his face was turned away from me. I knelt up beside him. "Jack." It felt like I was shouting, but I couldn't tell how loudly. Sounds were only just beginning to seep back into my ears and they all sounded distant and muffled. My throat was dry and when I felt my voice break and blamed that on the dust too. I coughed. "Jack!"

He didn't move.

"Jack!"

Nothing, he didn't even stir.

"**Jack!**"

I shook him, gently at first, but with a growing urgency when my actions provoked no response.

"Jack!" I called desperately, my lips by his ear.

Nothing.

I leant over and pushed my hands under his shoulders. I rolled him towards me. His body rolled limply towards me and his head flopped round in my arms. His eyes were closed. I called for him again and this time when I choked on a lump in my throat I knew it had nothing to do with dust.

I had seen the blood.

It hurt so much I felt as if I were the one who was bleeding. It had carved a crimson river down his right cheek, snaking and twisting through the dirt caking his face. I brushed the tips of my fingers against it. It was warm and wet and heartbreakingly real. I raised my bloodstained hands to in front of my face, confirming its existence. Had he been shot? Was the blood coming from a wound from George's gun? Had he fulfilled his promise and succeeded in killing Jack? The thought was too terrible to bear, but it was enough to ignite a fire in the pit of my stomach. An anger that was burning me up from the inside out. If he had made good on one promise there was no way on this Earth he would get another one right. He would not bring me back to where he had been keeping me a prisoner. I would return to that house, but I would go of my own free will and the streets of Port Royale would run red with George's blood.

My trembling hands traced the river of Jack's blood right up to its roots. I found a deep gash where a part of his bandanna had slipped down. Not a bullet wound then, but probably enough to kill him. How would I know? I tore a rag from my dress and ran to the cracked well. I soaked the rag and ran back to Jack. I cleaned the wound. I wasn't that deep, but it was bleeding too much and I couldn't seem to stop it even though I was bandaging it up as best I could. I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Jack's face was sticky with my tears and they were blurring my vision so much I couldn't see him anymore. I looked around. Wobbly shapes moved past me. I screamed at them for help until my voice was horse, but not one of them responded. I tried to wipe my eyes on the back of my sleeve, but they just kept filling up again. I lowered my lips to his and close my eyes. I kissed his lips gently, but they remained still. I don't know what I thought would happen. Maybe I thought I could kiss the life back into him. When there was no response from him. I collapsed down onto his chest as the hopelessness of it all came crashing down on me like a wave against the sand.

I was so lost, so out of control.

What could I do?

Why was I so weak? Why couldn't I help him?

I wasn't a doctor, I knew nothing about medicine. Nobody had ever taught me even though it was clearly and important subject. What use was sewing and embroidery when I couldn't even save the life or someone I loved? Why hadn't I bothered to find out about it for myself? Why was I so stupid? Uncontrollable sobs were streaming out of my mouth, but there was nothing I could do and nobody came to help me. Then I head something through my pain. Something that quenched the fire burning up my soul and it made my heart leap towards the sky. The most beautiful sound I had ever heard.

His heartbeat.

It calmed me. The weight lifted from my chest and I could breathe again. The world around me became clearer and more colourful. His heart was beating. He was alive! Tears were still rolling down my cheeks as I sat up again. I called for him again, gently shaking him as I propped his head up in my arms. This time there was a flicker of movement. His eyelids twitched and then rested back where they were. I choked out his name and his brow furrowed. I glanced around again for help, but a warm hand turned my face back to look at his. His eyes were open. My heart stopped or maybe it was beating so fast now it just felt as if it had stopped. He touched my cheek. "Am I dead?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Thought not, there's no way we'd have ended up in the same place." I opened my mouth to argue, but his fingers met one of my tears. "What's all this crying about then, love?" he said in a horse, but unmistakable voice. I looked down into his eyes and felt the relief pull at the corners of my mouth. I kissed him more fiercely than I think I've ever done in my life. His lips wee dirty and dry, but I didn't even think about that. When I stopped kissing him and pulled him into a tight hug unable to stop myself from shaking I heard him laugh. "I think I may try being unconscious more often if that's the welcome I get."

I pulled back from him and held him at arms length. "Don't you dare!" I said, but couldn't stop myself from smiling at him. He grinned back. "I though you were dead."

He raised his eyebrows, "It'll take more than a knock to the head to finish me off, darlin'"

"Maybe a slimy, green sea monster with tentacles that'll suction you're face clean off?" I suggested. He laughed at me.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't count on it." He tried to sit up, but squeezed his eyes shut and thudded back down onto his back. "Urg! I feel dizzy and not in the good way."

"There's a good way?" I asked.

"It's good when you're drunk," he murmured. I rolled my eyes and helped him prop himself up slowly and get to his feet. I held him still when he swayed on the spot until his world had stopped spinning. He opened his eyes and bent to kiss me before letting me go and taking my hand. "Shall we?"

I nodded, but then I looked around. The streets had been reduced to rubble, and it was fro the rubble that people were beginning to crawl. Most of them were covered in blood and calling out. I saw the look in their faces reflect the feeling in my heart from moments before. They were lost. This hadn't happened before at least not in living memory and everyone was scared, searching for their loved ones. The sky had turned orange with the glow of so many buildings on fire. I could hear people screaming. I looked to Jack, "We… we should help."

His eyes, for once, matched the seriousness of the situation. He paused and looked around at the destruction cause by only a few seconds work. That seemed to always be the way, the things that happened quickly and suddenly were the things that left us in the most shock. They always caused the most pain. He looked back to me, "We should go. If we stay and help someone who knows you will see you and then we'll have to fight again. If you go know George can tell everyone you died in the earthquake."

My head felt heavy as I tried to nod it. It was all I could do. What he said had made complete sense of course, but it didn't feel right. He tugged me a way and I turned my back on Port Royale. It smelt like burning all around me and I started to cry again. It was a smell I had grown to both fear and hate. I hated it because it took away lives and I feared it because it could easily do the same again. My tears were as silent as they had been the last time I had seen fire and so Jack didn't notice until we were in the boat. He stopped rowing.

"Izzy," he said his voice a gentle as the hand that turned my chin up so that my eyes met with his. "It's for the best."

"I know," I said in a small voice. I took a deep breath and he pulled me towards him so I could rest my head on his shoulder. From where I was I could see Port Royale burning. It was only then, as I watched rows of what used to be houses be consumed by flames. They lapped at the jet black skeletal frames of the houses and then a thought struck me, "George could be dead."

I didn't realize that I had spoken aloud until I felt Jack sigh. I looked up at him. The flames were reflected in his eyes, but I still felt that it was the only place in the world where I could escape them. His jaw was tight and I could tell that he was fighting to keep his voice level. "Why do you _still _care about him?"

I felt his whole body stiffen as he awaited my answer, his eyes hardened. I didn't know what he was waiting for, but he seemed to be dreading it. My connection with George was getting to him and I could understand why. Tears were flowing faster and thicker than ever before, but it had little to do with what I had just said. It was how I felt about what I'd said. Nothing. No matter how hard I tried to search my mind, my heart and my soul for how I felt it all came back with _nothing._ Even though the place I had lived for years was crumbling before my eyes and every memory I hade made was going up with smoke I could feel a thing. There was nothing connecting me to Port Royale anymore and so losing it did not come as any kind of blow. Anyone and anything that had ever mattered to me was not longer there and it was with them that the best memories lay. The place itself was bland and had served as a halfway point, a place between my childhood in England and my new future. I had been waiting there, but at the time I had not known what I was waiting for. I had never loved the streets of Port Royale the way I had loved the deck of the _Pearl. _I had never taken the time to memorise anything about the and when I closed my eyes I couldn't picture it in intimate detail the way I could the _Pearl_. There was nothing tying me to Port Royale, no connections anymore.

"I-I-I don't," I said. He looked at me. "I don't know how I feel about it. I don't think I feel anything anymore." He nodded and pulled me closer. I could watch the flames without pain. It bothered me that I couldn't muster any emotions for my home of ten years and I search again going as deep into both my conscious and my subconscious as I could. Again… nothing. Then I knew what was happening.

My bridges were, quite literally, burning.


	9. A Night in Tortuga

**Hey, Sorry it's been a while and I'm sure it's not worth the wait, but here you go. And the spin-off is up if you want to have a look. You don't have to and I'll love you just as much either way.**

**LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!**

LV  
XX  


* * *

A high white ceiling cut me off from the sky and walls boxed me in, hiding me from the outside world and everything in it. The only access to everything I loved was a window. A window that, through my own choice, remained shut and locked. Sunlight showed everything clearly, but even it couldn't warm the room. I had been having such a good dream. Well, the ending had scared me, but the fact of the dream was I was free. Free to be with the man I loved and the one who loved me back for all the right reasons. It was too high a cloud to come down from quickly. It was best to take it slow on the way down. It gave me more time to prepare for the landing, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

It was very bright. Brighter than it usually was. Had I shut my curtains properly?

Then my senses slowly started to wake up and catch up with my mind. I felt something. A breeze tickled my face. I froze for a moment I even stopped breathing just to listen. I could hear the sea. I could hear the sea from my room too, but never like this. It was almost right by my ear and it sounded different. I didn't wake me up be shrieking at me, it brought me gently back to reality. I ran my tongue across my lips. They were deliciously salty. And I could hear a heartbeat. A heartbeat that wasn't my own. I started breathing again and a beautifully familiar scent filled my senses. "Jack?" I said before I could stop myself. His chin moved from the top of my head and I felt his lips on my skin as he kissed my forehead.

"Hello, Belle," I could hear the smile in his voice. I removed my head from his chest to look up at him. I pressed the back of my hand against his cheek and studied his face for any missing details. Nothing.

"You're real," I said aloud.

He grinned his special Jack-grin, reserved only for people he thinks are slightly mad. I get that grin a lot. "I was last time I checked," he said. I smiled and leaned in to kiss him.

***

I smelled where we were headed before we got there. Tortuga was busy and a live with people. The usual drunken scene was taking place and I wondered how the people of Tortuga ever rested. They always seemed to be on the go. It must be the rum acting as a kind of fuel to keep them going. It seemed to work for Jack. We pulled up alongside the jetty where ships of all different sizes and shapes and flying an array of colours and flags were moored. Much more beautiful and exciting than the docks of Port Royal, even if they were more disorganised, but that was the attraction. Jack leapt up and out and tied the boat in one of the few free spaces and I scrambled out after him.

"Where to now?" I asked. I wondered what his plan was, but we hadn't discussed it all. I couldn't see the _Pearl_, but I presumed that it was what he was here for; it was the most important thing in the world to him. But I could see no ship that even slightly resembled her.

"_The Faithful Bride,_" he said. "We can get a room there, better than sleeping in that bloody boat, eh?"

Having had no experience with staying in Tortuga I said nothing and hoped that its living accommodations were better than the smell and more hygienic than the streets. I had previously thought that it was impossible for anything to be more unsanitary than the streets of Tortuga, but I didn't want to assume this and be in for any kind of shock. A pirate's life was unpredictable at the best of times.

Tortuga was, as ever, completely unchanged. The pub that we had first been united with Gibbs was just as noisy and messy rowdy as ever. It was full of people who seemed to be eternally drunk. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if he was lying out the back of the pub in a pile of pig muck. I thought that Jack may want a drink first, but he pushed his way straight through the crowded tavern to where a small, unshaven man was standing serving the already drunk men and women. Jack pulled me along behind him by the hand and shouted to the bar tender over the rabble.

"Got a room?" he asked.

"Aye," the man replied. The scars on his face twisted and showed up white as he spoke. "One left. You want it?"

"Aye."

"Usually price then," said the man, scrubbing an empty glass with a dirty rag. His eyes slid over to me as Jack fished out some money. "Ain't seen you before," he commented. I felt like I was on exhibit. I stared back at him, hoping that if I stared hard enough he would stop staring at me.

"Isabel Norrington," I said. He grunted and nodded. He went back to his glass and said no more. Clearly I didn't get to know his name in return. He took the money from Jack in exchange for a key, spared us another grunt and turned back to his customers. Jack tugged on my hand.

"C'mon, love," he said. I followed him through the crowd to where a dimly lit spiral staircase ascended into the gloom. The stairs were carpeted in a worn and faded threadbare material and it was only wide enough for us to go single file. It opened onto a landing where several doors turned off and it was in front of those doors that Jack stopped me. He slipped the key into the door and it juddered open. He took my hand and bent to press his lips to the back of it. "After you, Madame," he stepped back to let me in. I smiled and walked in. It was a reasonable size and surprisingly well furnished. There was a large double bed in the middle of the room, a small table and three chairs by the window which looked out onto Tortuga and the harbour. Jack lit some candles as I sat down on the bed, lost in thoughts about the future. Where would we go? What would we do? Whatever it was, I had no doubt that it would better than I could even try to imagine. The mattress dipped as Jack sat down next to me and I turned to ask him what we were going to do, but I could tell by the look in his eyes and I knew he had something else on his mind. My heart began to beat a little faster.

His arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer. His gaze was so intense it sent tingles racing up and down my spine. They played havoc with my mind. I couldn't think properly. I didn't want to think. Thinking was so… it was so…

He ran his thumb along my jaw line until it stopped at my chin and he tilted my face very gently upwards. With his thumb still under my chin he traced the outline of my lips with his forefinger. His hand then moved to the side of my face and slid down to rest on my neck. I closed my eyes. I could feel his breath on my face. My own breathing seemed different somehow. It was less… less… His lips brushed ever so lightly against mine and every word I had ever known was completely wiped from my mind and my memory. Every word except 'Jack'. The warmth of his lips pressed harder on mine and his kiss was so gentle it made me want to cry. My arms slipped around his neck and I kissed him back. One of his hands moved to the base of my spine and he kissed me harder than before. I pulled him closer to me and pressed my body right up against his, but still I didn't feel close enough. No matter how tightly I held him I wanted more. It wasn't just something I wanted; it was something I needed too. I _had _to be closer to him or the desire to be nearer would burn me up from the inside out.

Every touch made my skin prickle as if it were on fire and each kiss made my lips tingle a little more. His kiss deepened and all the breath I had left me. I let him push my onto my back without any resistance, but when his hands moved to untie my dress something made me stop him. I pulled away. He propped himself up on his hands to look me in the eye. "What's the matter, Izzy?"

"I… I can't…" I said. I was in as much shock as he was at hearing me say that. I could see the doubt forming in his eyes and I rushed to stop it from staying there. "It's not that I don't love you Jack, I really, really do, and it's not that I don't want to… I just… I can't. I don't really know how to explain it…"

"I do," he said, brushing the hair from my face. I waited for him to go on, not quite sure what to expect. I didn't want him to be upset. I didn't want him to doubt me or think I didn't love him. I especially didn't want us to argue. Not now. But I didn't really see how he could explain it when I, myself, did know how to. "You're too moral," he said simply. "Some things we're taught are harder to forget than others."

He knew me better than I knew myself.

"Sorry," I said quietly. He smiled.

"Don't be, it's not your fault Izzy." He moved up to rest his head on a pillow and pulled me up beside him. I laid my head on his chest and he kissed the top of my head. Guilt and worry were twisting around in my stomach. What was wrong with me?

"I love you," I said, so I could be sure he knew that.

"I know," he hugged me tighter. "And I love you too. That's why I can wait, love. I've waited a long time for you, another while won't hurt."


	10. Decisions

"Jack?"

"Uh-huh…" he said distractedly, running his thumb along the edge of his compass. He wasn't looking at me. His eyes were resting on the street below the window, but I knew he wasn't focussed on it or taking it in. Something was definitely wrong and it had been for the past few days.

"Where are we going?" he looked up at me.

"What?"

"Where are we going?" I repeated. "What's our plan?" He watched me sit down opposite him. "We've been here almost a week now and we don't seem to be headed anywhere."

I felt as if my sentence had such a heavy weighting that it could break something around us. He looked away from me again and back to the streets of Tortuga which always seemed to look grimier in the cold light of day. And more sick-covered too. I leant forward slightly to read his face and I knew at once that he didn't know. "The _Pearl_…" he said. "Or the Fountain of Youth…"

"The Fountain of what?"

"Youth," he repeated. I raised an eyebrow.

"Yet another way to live forever?" I questioned.

He leant back, reached out behind him and pulled out yet another set of charts. "I know the way and everything." His face lit up and he smiled. "Brilliant, isn't it?"

I didn't think so. I could see how excited the prospect made him and I wondered why it didn't make me feel the same. I narrowed my eyes and sighed. "What's the catch?"

"What makes you think there's a catch?"

"There is always a catch, Jack. Even with Jones there was a job to do and he was split from Calypso for ten years. Barbossa's immortality didn't exactly go to plan now did it? So, go on tell me the catch and if it involves ten years of separation or a lifetime of being starving and looking like a member of the undead you can count me out because I am _not _wandering around with my skeleton on full display. Life is too short for that!"

"Technically," Jack's mouth twitched in his effort not to laugh. I knew what was coming. "If you were immortal life wouldn't be too short at all, love."

"Jack…" I warned him. Sometimes it was like talking to a child.

"What," he smiled innocently and even though he was frustrating me it's hard to resist that smile. "It's just a little hard to get to…"

"How hard?" I pressed.

"Well, it's made even harder by the fact that we don't have a ship," he pointed out. I noticed that it was just a way of side-stepping the question, but for the time being I let it slip.

"So we go after the _Pearl_?" I asked. He looked like he was searching for a way to side-step that too and I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yes," he said slowly as if it was something he had only just decided on the answer himself. I took a deep breath so I didn't snap at him.

"You could have decided on that six days ago!" I huffed.

"Don't know where it is," he said.

"_Use your bloody Compass!" _

He started sulking and scowled at his compass. He had a wonderful knack for picking fights with inanimate objects. "It's broken."

"What?"

"Well it must be. It's still pointing to you, love. It's still telling me that I want you."

I frowned. "But… but you've got me."

"I know that!" he sounded frustrated. "_It _doesn't know that!" He thumped the top of the compass before shoving it away from him. "Stupid thing," he muttered, still sulking with it. I stared at the Compass with as much apprehension as if I was waiting for it to talk. I felt like it was staring back at me. It couldn't be broken. It had never been wrong before. There was only _one_ time where Jack had claimed it to be broken.

"How did you fix it last time?" I asked. He stopped his furious glaring and looked up at me in utter bewilderment.

"There hasn't been a last time," he looked at me like I was an idiot. "This is the first time it's happened."

"But the time before this time."

He blinked at me. "This is the first time it's happened," he repeated. "Ergo, there has been no time before this one."

I shook my head around to make this information go in. "No," I said, adamant that I was right. "When you were trying to find the heart and the needle just kept spinning and you said it was because you were between things, well is it…" His smile stopped me from talking.

"You never figured it out did you?" he laughed.

I felt myself flare up immediately, "_You _wouldn't tell me!" His smile widened and I to refrain fro punching him. Sometimes he annoyed me so much I hated him and wondered why I was in love with him in the first place. "I asked you and you wouldn't tell me or Elizabeth and she thought it was because you…"

I stopped talking, but my mouth stayed open. His smile no longer made me want to kick him. He pushed back his chair and stood up. He walked around the table and crouched down next to my chair to look me in the eye. "Because I was in love," he finished my sentence on Elizabeth's prediction even though we had never discussed it. I nodded silently. His hand brushed against my cheek. "It was you, Izzy, even then, even though I wouldn't admit it, least of all to myself, the Compass tried to tell me it was you."

And just like that he had gone from making me want to punch him to making me want to kiss him. Was there anyone more perfect than him? I doubted it. And then I felt guilty. Guilty because the Compass was always right, it never lied even when Jack did. It wasn't broken. Something I was doing, or had done was making Jack feel like I wasn't his. Even if he wouldn't say it out loud he clearly doubted how much I loved him. Was this because I couldn't sleep with him? I wanted to, but I knew it would feel wrong.

Maybe I was being selfish.

"I love you so much," I whispered to him, just so he knew. His hand fisted in my hair as he caught my lips in his. My hands rested on his shoulders and with one of his slipped around my waist he pulled my gently to my feet. He drew my body closer before moving his lips to my forehead and hugging me tightly to him. I hugged him back, trying to tell him without words that I was, despite his apparent doubts, utterly and completely his.

"Uh-oh," he said over my shoulder and I felt him grimace. I pulled back to look him in the eye.

"What is it?"

He looked as if someone had been sick in his mouth and then offered to pull every one of his teeth and nails out to compensate for it. "I know that ship."

I turned to the window. Jack shifted to wrap his arms around me from behind and bent slightly to rest his chin on my shoulder. I smiled as his cheek touched mine; it was such a safe place to be. It was a peaceful contrast to the hectic shambles our lives seemed to disintegrate into every so often. I had a feeling that Jack's 'Uh-oh' was going to be the next thing break the tranquillity. Good thing we were used to it. I braced myself, but found that I didn't mind what was about to happen. Whatever it was we would be able to get through it. We always could. "What ship is it?"  
I had scanned the ships in Tortuga and found none I knew. His breath tickled my cheek as he sighed. "It's me dad's".

"What's so bad about that?" I turned my head to look at him. "He could help us get the _Pearl _back."

He looked thoughtful. "That's true..." he brightened up. "Let's go and see if he will." Letting go of me and picking up his coat he paused. "Don't tell him about the Fountain of Youth, love."

This immendiately made me feel nervous again. I fought to keep the nerves from showing in my voice. "Why?"

"It's not something he would approve of," said Jack. This didn't make me feel any better. From what I had met of Teague he seemed to know what he was talking about and if he felt that there was a good reason of us not to go to the Fountain then maybe we shouldn't go. It brought back all my doubts about the Fountain and the quest for immortality. I decide right there and then that if the end did not justify the means then I would refuse point-blank to go with him. He would have to choose between immortality and me.

I honestly couldn't say which I thought he'd choose.


	11. Making Plans

**Hey guys #looks sheepish and ashamed#**

**Sorry... I really am... I swear... :S Don't hate me. Hate the SQA, it's ALL THEIR FAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Love you, even if the feeling is not so mutual given how long this has taken me. And as prof of my love I shall update twicely.**

**LV  
XX  
**

* * *

I noticed that Jack had become increasingly quiet as we neared the docks. I could almost see him withdrawing to some shielded place inside himself. His guard seemed to work overtime when he was around his father, and that was saying something. I knew that, despite his pretences and the way he came across, Jack was a very guarded person. He appeared to be open and care-free, but most of the time it was to cover up that he was vulnerable and everything he told people (some lies, others the unbelievable truth) was just a distraction to what he was _not _telling them. You had to be _very _good at reading between his lines to understand what he was really trying to tell you. Often you couldn't tell that there were lines to read between, but there were signals, if you knew him well enough; a look in his eye, an undertone to his voice or his laugh, a smile that didn't quite go the whole way to his eyes. It was these signs, more often than not, that alerted me to the fact that something was wrong.

I took his hand in mine, noticing that it was as tense as he was. I gave it a squeeze and moved closer to him. His eyes came into focus a tiny bit more as he glanced at me, but his smile did not fully reach his eyes. It was odd to see Jack nervous, if that was what you'd call it. Did he feel he had something to prove? Halfway along the jetty we walked right into the path of Captain Teague. As they each looked at the other they stopped abruptly. Teague's crew crashed into each other as some of the slightly slower ones realized that they had come to a stop. A long silence stretched on.

And on.

Teague's crew started to get bored. They coughed and shuffled their feet and scratched, but their Captain took no notice. I tried not to look at the ones picking at the dirt in their nails. Jack and Teague looked at each other as if they were daring them to be the first to speak. Still the silence went on and I could picture myself growing old in this spot, on this dock in exactly the same position and while I didn't want to think too much about dying, it was not the way I wanted to go. I shifted from foot to foot "accidently" tugging on Jack's hand but he didn't budge.

"It's nice to see you again Captain Teague," I said loudly, ignoring Jack's sigh and concentrating on returning Teague's smile and keeping up the lack of silence. Teague's crew looked relieved.

"Hello, lass," he looked back to Jack and paused for long enough for the hopelessness to build back up again and for me to groan inwardly. "Hello, Jacky."

"Dad," Jack nodded in the same short way Teague had just done. Another silence. This was almost unbearable. It was so painful trying to get either of them to talk.

"So..." I said, just for something to fill the silence, but when every pair of eyes bore into me (apart from one pirate who was too busy wiping something on the sleeve of his friend to have noticed) I realized I would have to finish that sentence. "What brings you to Tortuga?"

It was a stupid question. Nobody really knew why anyone turned up in Tortuga, but it gave me something to say. Teague shrugged and I prayed that wasn't the only answer. "Restocking," he said to my relief. "Before our next bit of pirating, which, by the way, I may need your help with."

"Oh," I said. What else was there to say really? Teague was looking around.

"Where's the _Pearl_? I thought you and Hector had it, Jacky?"

"Lost it," said Jack shortly.

"Actually," I cut in before another fatal silence could come crashing down on us. "Barbossa stole it from him."

"A mutiny?" I saw it strike a nerve with Teague. I nodded and a muscle in his wrinkled face tightened with anger. His voice was low, but somehow angrier than it he'd shouted. I subconsciously flinched. He was scarier than I remembered. "It's against the Code."

That was it. I knew we had his help now. He had such a rigid respect and loyalty to the Code and all it stood for that he had absolutely no patience for those who didn't respect it. Jack was looking a little brighter. I looked to Teague. "Will you help us get it back?"

He nodded, "Aye, but after that I'll be wanting _your_ help." He looked to his son and stuck out his hand. "Do we have an agreement?"

Jack nodded even though he had no idea what he was shaking on; he took his father's hand. The crew, sensing the conversation was over started moving towards Tortuga to carry on with what they were doing before we had interrupted them, but Teague stayed where he was. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

Jack sighed heavily, "How's mum?"

Teague wordlessly held up the shrunken head of a woman. It was too hard to resist. I tried, I honestly did, but it was the look on Jack's face that pushed me to say it, "She looks like you, Jack." Teague looked pleased. Jack didn't. He stood on my foot.

I'm pretty sure it was deliberate.

***

As Teague and Jack opened maps and planned the best way to get to Barbossa without damaging the _Pearl_ I left it to them to talk, partly because I hoped it would help them be able to talk without the help of a third-party translator and also because they knew heaps more about it than I did, which wasn't hard...

I stayed nearby so I could give Jack a good kick if there was a lapse in conversation and because I didn't really know the crew. They were all too busy to pay me all that much attention anyway and I probably would have been more of a hindrance than a help. The crew seemed wary of us, kept their heads down and got on with what they were doing. They were quieter than the ones we had left behind on the _Pearl, _or maybe Teague just had them better trained. Every plan Jack came up with was ridiculously violent, but at least Teague was there to dilute it a little.

There wasn't a huge difference between the way Teague ran his ship and the way Jack ran his, just as there wasn't much difference between the way Jack was and the way Teague was. But there were differences. Teague, for one, was a lot more open with his crew than Jack had ever been when I'd seen him. He let them know everything he was planning and every detail of what would happen when everything fell into place. Jack had never done that with his crew, but he had known good reason not to trust them. Teague was also less... _insane _than Jack was and I got the feeling that he always knew what was going on and what he was doing, rather than Jack's usual 'something'll turn up soon if I pretend I know what I'm doing' technique. I could see Jack itching to do what came naturally to him and Captain the ship he was standing on. Just being 'one of the crew' frustrated him no end and trying to rein him in was hard on my part.

Jack was quieter around his father and there was always a tangible awkwardness. Whenever they had a conversation that was longer than four words someone fell out with someone else or Jack just sat and listened with hard eyes and a the expression of feeling trapped by his father. He probably did. Teague was very distant with him, but I do think he tried to speak to his son. They probably didn't see each other that much.

"What happens when you get the _Pearl _back then, Jacky?" he asked. I waited to see if Jack would mention the Fountain. He merely shrugged.

"Go pirating, I suppose," he said. Teague narrowed his eyes as if he didn't believe him, but said nothing about any doubts he had. I stared at Jack, but he was avoiding my eyes. Teague left and I waited until he had closed the door on the small room in the galley before I turned to him.

"Why don't you just tell him?" I asked. I didn't need to clarify what about.

"He wouldn't want to hear it," said Jack moodily.

"Which is precisely why you _should _tell him," I said. "There'd be a good reason he wouldn't want to hear it! And maybe it would be best if we knew that reason before we go and get killed over something we could have been saved from!"

While I didn't want Teague to overhear us of Jack's sake I was finding it increasingly hard to keep my voice level and so was he. "We're not going to die, Isabel," he sounded so sure, but how could he be? "I know what I'm doing."

I knew he was lying.

"If you don't tell Teague then I just might," I threatened. His face clouded over, but I didn't care.

"Don't."

"Give me one good reason not to..." I let it hang in the air and he let out an angry sigh.

"I need his help getting the _Pearl _back. We both do." It sounded reasonable enough, but I was still worried by it. "If he knew about our plan to after the Fountain he wouldn't help us."

"Why not?"

"He doesn't believe people should live forever and he'd try and stop us."

"Maybe he has good reason to try and stop us. He's bound to know more about it than we do!" I said. Jack shook his head. There was a silence. "How about after we've got the _Pearl_?" I suggested. "That way he can't stop us, he can just advise us."

"I don't need his advice!" Jack's face flushed. "I can do this on my own!"

I opened my mouth to scream at him, but the door opened and Teague's head appeared in the gap. His solemn eyes bore into us both. Jack looked moodily away from Teague and I. "Is everything alright?" Teague asked in his deep, gravelly voice. Jack nodded and I stayed silent. Teague was one of those people that you feel an urge to blurt out the truth to every time they look at you. It was something about his eyes. He noticed that I hadn't said anything and he looked at me. "Isabel...?" he prompted. My glance slid over to Jack. His eyes met mine and although he said nothing I knew he was asking me not to say anything. I focussed on Teague again and nodded.

"Everything's fine," I said quietly.

Something in his eyes made me think he knew I was lying, that he'd maybe heard the conversation but it was just a brief flicker of disappointment before he covered it up. "Good," he said, but he did not smile. "It's time, Jacky."

As he turned to leave I heard Jack mutter, "Don't call me Jacky," under his breath and I smiled in spite of myself.

It was time to give Barbossa a taste of his own medicine...


	12. Under The Cover of Darkness

**Told ya so!**

* * *

It was dark outside. So dark it was almost touchable and everything around us was black. Including the ship moored on an island nearby. The _Black Pearl _was visible only because of the light from the moon and the stars and the only reason we knew it was her was because we had seen it in the daylight. At about midday a cry had gone up telling us that the _Pearl _had been spotted moored on an island where there was rumoured to be vast amounts of treasure buried in a deep underground cave. We had bided our time and stayed back until nightfall, praying that the _Pearl _would stay mired there long enough for us to sneak on board and take her back. It was sheer luck that we had found her. Jack hadn't mentioned his Compass to Teague let alone that it wasn't working, but when nobody but me was looking he would get it out and shake it furiously. I always felt bad when he did. It was, after all, my fault.

It felt as if even the night air around us was holding its breath as we drew up alongside the _Pearl_. It was so still. Only the sea was moving, very gently lapping at the shore and at both boats, trying to cover up the sounds we made. The wind had dropped, which was good as it meant that we could go very slowly and quietly through the water. We stopped and the silence around us was slightly broken by the sound of wooden boards being drawn out and slid slowly along in the gap between the ships. I cringed as they scraped along.

"Captain," a loud whisper cut across the deck from the man with the telescope, who was standing next to me. Everyone froze. The planks stopped there slow procession and hung in the gap. Teague appeared silently behind me. The man pointed, "There's someone on lookout in the Crow's Nest."

_They must be looking in the wrong direction then, _I thought, _to not have seen us coming. Or maybe they're asleep. I bet it's Pintel... or Ragetti. Ragetti's probably looking out of the wrong eye..._

On the other side of me Jack pulled the face he does when he's cursing something. He probably realised that it was only a matter of time before whoever was in the Crow's Nest looked the right way and saw us. Without thinking too much about it I grabbed a rope that was hanging beside me and climbed onto the railing. Jack tugged at my leg, but Teague nodded his approval.

"Belle..." Jack hissed in the silence. I drew a knife just in case.

"Sorry, Jack," I said and then, just to annoy him; "Captain's orders."

I put the blade of the knife between my teeth and pushed off. As the air rushed past me I had time to think about my landing and braced myself for it. I squinted to see the deck come closer and stretched out my feet to meet the rail. My toes touched it and I balanced there, not letting myself fall to the deck for that would make a noise. I doubt I would have been as brave if I didn't know that these people were our friends and there was really only one person we had to fear aboard this ship.

When I was steady I slid down onto the deck and kept a hold of the rope. I cut a length of it off, hacking at it with my dagger. I let it swing back across before making my way to the foot of the Crow's Nest. I put the blade back between my teeth and kept the rope clutched tightly in one hand. I reached up and grabbed a rung of the ladder. I pulled myself up. The rope was shaky under my feet, but I had expected that. I pushed myself up another rung and another, being careful not to let the rope swing far enough away from the mast for it to make a noise if it were to crash into it again. The further up I went the shakier the rope became and the more it swung. The higher up I went, the windier it was. I tried not to think about the gap between the cold, hard deck and I. My heartbeat had quickened and now I was starting to get scared. I had realised that if the person in the Crow's Nest heard me or saw me before I had a chance to swing myself into the nest then they would have the advantage. If they knew I was coming they could kill me before I knew I had been seen. If they were prepared a sword dropped on me at that angle would slice straight through my skull. I forced myself to look up. The Crow's Nest was silhouetted against the tiny pin-pricks of starlight. It seemed so far away. Blood pounded in my ears as I forced myself to keep going. I felt the knife start to slip from between my teeth and I bit down harder. I couldn't let it fall. It may just save my life.

What had once seemed so far away was getting tantalisingly close and I dreaded the end with anticipation in my gut. The last few rungs came and I paused, listening. I could hear the wind, my heart and my breathing. I slowed down my breaths, made them quieter. I hooked my fingers over the top of the Crow's Nest and slowly pulled myself up. My eyes peeked over the top. A solitary figure stood in the Crow's Nest with his back to me. I think.

I pulled myself further up until my head and shoulders were above the line of the railing surrounding the nest. Pushing myself up on my hands I swung one of my legs over the edge. There was a terrifyingly long moment where the only thing keeping me from a plummet to certain death was one foot where my tiptoe was balancing on a thin rung of a wobbling ladder. I shifted my weight on to the foot that was on something more solid and swung my other leg over. I took the knife out of my mouth. With both feet now firmly on solid ground I crept forward a few steps. I then took the biggest breath of my entire life and, as the world seemed to slow down around me, I sprang forward.

My hand slammed down over their mouth, muffling their shout and I pressed the blade to the base of their jaw. I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach his ear, but I managed it. "Don't make a sound," I hissed. He stayed still. I think it was Ragetti after all, he was the right height. "Do you understand?" He nodded and I spun him round to face me, keeping my knife at his throat. It was, indeed, Ragetti. His eyes widened. I tried to be less threatening. I'd always liked him. "I'm sorry about this," I told him, sincerely. "We've come for the _Pearl_ and we're not going to hurt anyone... except maybe Barbossa, but that's not my point."

I turned away from him and signalled to the others that it was safe to come across. The boarding planks continued their slow procession "Mmmnf..." he tried to speak. I shushed him. Then, to be on the safe side I got my length of rope and tied it across his mouth.

"Are you going to help me or do I need to tie you're hands too?" He nodded to show that he would help and then pointed to his gag. If he wanted me to take it off, he was out of luck. I hadn't come this far to risk it now. I grabbed his pistol out of his holster and aimed it at him. "Get down and don't bother trying to take off your gag, understand?" He nodded. Poor Ragetti, I'd give him a big hug when all this was over. "I'll go first, but you better be right behind me..."

He nodded again and I started my descent down the ladder. I kept my attention and Ragetti's pistol pointing up the way, just so that Ragetti knew not to try anything. As my feet touched the ground the boarding ramps fell into place. People were quick to scurry across and jump soundlessly onto the deck, weapons drawn. They tread as lightly as possible across the deck. One of them tied up Ragetti's hands and feet with more rope he had brought across. Ragetti struggled against him, trying desperately to mime something to me. Then I saw Jack heading towards Barbossa's Cabin with his face set and eyes burning with pure hatred. It was nothing like any hatred I had ever seen before and it scared me. Even though I knew that it wasn't for me, the level of hatred he had been driven to made my blood run cold in my veins. I snuck after him as Teague's crew began to move downstairs to the crew's quarters to capture them. There were no lights on. Jack pushed on the door and let it swing open. Nothing but darkness greeted us and so Jack stole inside. I looked around before starting to follow him. I saw the look in Ragetti's eyes and I stopped. They were full of nothing but blind panic. He squirmed around trying to dislodge his gag. It slipped down far enough for his voice to carry out across the night, "I'm sorry, Isabel..."

"What?" I whispered, as fear and confusion beginning to rise in my chest.

"I'm so sorry," he whimpered, close to tears. "I didn't know it was you... you and Jack... I thought... I'm sorry..."

I could feel my palms getting clammy as a tight knot of dread formed in my stomach. It was enough to make me feel sick. I never had time to ask him what he was sorry for, as I was about to find out. Jack's voice called out in the darkness. He sounded confused and anxious. "Where is he?"

"What?" I took a step inside the doorway, but couldn't see a thing.

"He's not in here..." Jack said from the depths of the gloom.

"Yes he is," Barbossa's voice from the shadows was the loudest thing I had heard in ages. As I jumped a knife pressed into my back and a gun dug into my temple. "Ye just weren't looking hard enough..."

He dragged me backwards, into the light on deck where Jack could see what he was doing. He ran the flat of the blade down my cheek. It was so cold I shuddered and he laughed. Jack stepped out, gun raised, but Barbossa was using me as a human shield. "Let her go!" he warned. Barbossa laughed again.

"It was a mistake comin' here, Jack. And now Belle's going to have to pay for it."

* * *

**See ya in like another month or so.. :(**

**XX  
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	13. Back on the Pearl

**Wasn't too long, was it? Not a month, but one day it may be, so be prepared for that and try to love me even though I will go out of my way to make it the most painful wait of your lives. **

**Love ya!**

**Xx  
**

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The blade of the knife pressed against my throat hard enough for my to feel it there, but not so that it cut me. I kept my eyes locked on Jack's. Looking at him was the only way for me to stay strong and at least if I was to die now I would have a quick way to say goodbye. Jack's were shaking and the gun he had trained on Barbossa was unwavering in its target, but trembling all the same. "Let her go," he begged. "Please let her go, I'll leave, I swear."

Barbossa laughed again, "Now you see, I don't believe that Jack, so don't ye be taking me for a fool. If ye leave, ye'll only come back again when you think I'm not around. So, I'm afraid I won't be letting ye leave without making sure ye never want to see this ship again… Fancy living in the same place you watched Ms Norrington die?" His cruel question hung in the air. Jack could do nothing but shake his head. "Thought not," Barbossa said, twisting to look at me. "Apologies, Isabel, but really, it's Jack ye have to blame for it." He ran the blade up and down my cheek. He sounded like he was enjoying himself. "I'll be quick, I promise. You'll hardly feel a thing… Any… last words."

"Yes, I have three," I said, holding my chin up high. "Don't underestimate me!" I grunted, twisting in his grip and kicking him hard in the shin. His hold loosened enough for me to dislodge the pistol out from his hand, but this gave me too problems. The one weapon he had left was the knife, which meant that the only way left for him to kill me was the messiest and most painful. It also left him one hand free to grab me by the arm and push me to my knees. The small dagger I had been clutching since I had arrived on the _Pearl_ flew from my fingers and spun across the deck. Barbossa's foot connected with my back and I cried out in pain. Jack sprang forward but, before he could lay a finger on Barbossa, Ragetti swung his legs into the back of Barbossa's knees. His legs buckled underneath him and he came crashing down on top of me. My ribs were crushed between Barbossa and the deck and I winced, unable to scream or cry. Suddenly the weight was lifted as Teague and Jack hauled Barbossa to his feet. I scrambled up and looked around. Barbossa was shouting to his crew for assistance, but his orders fell flat. Some had already been captured and held at gunpoint by Teague's crew. Others, like Marty and Cotton had handed themselves over voluntarily. Not one person moved to help Barbossa and I felt a rush of love for all of them. They could really pull through for their rightful Captain, although often it was a very last-minute pulling through. But they'd done it all the same. Barbossa fell silent.

"Nobody trusts a traitor to be Captain," Teague reprimanded in his usual wise and grave tones, "And the betrayer nearly always becomes the betrayed." Sometimes Teague talked as much rubbish as rubbish as Jack, but just like Jack it all sort of made perfect sense in a beautifully illogical way. A warning not entered Teague's voice, "Easy lad…"

Jack had raised his gun and was pointing it at Barbossa. The gun was shaking, but it was anger that was making it shake now that all the fear had gone. And Barbossa just stood there and laughed. The cold laughter only served to make Jack angrier.

I moved slowly towards him. "Jack," I called to him. I felt as of I were calling him away from somewhere very dark he was descending into. I had to pull him away from it some how, stop him crossing the line between revenge and being in the wrong. It was a line that was very often forgotten about by those skirting dangerously close to the edge. The edges could often be a bit hazy and I didn't doubt how smudged the boundaries were for Jack. As an observer, I had to stop him crossing it. For both our sakes. I called for him again. Something in his eyes flashed, a brief moment of recognition and a glimpse of something a bit more human than his eyes had previously looked before the rage took over again. The pain Barbossa had caused him had built up so much that I could see it straining to get out of him. The hatred an pain was shaking him as it scotched and burned its way through every blood vessel, every bone, every organ and every fibre in his body. It pulsated through him and burned up his flesh. All of his muscles tensed as his emotions fought to get out, I could see them pushing at the boundaries of his eyes. I understood it, but it scared me. _He _scared me. This wasn't Jack. This wasn't even human. How tempting, how easy it would be to just pull the trigger on Barbossa… again. This time it would be forever. Then the cause of all Jack's pain would be gone, but would the anger now that he had hurt him twice? What Jack needed was to stick to our original plan, to see Barbossa suffer through what Jack had. Shooting him would fix nothing long-term.

"He's not worth it," I told Jack even though I doubted he could hear me. I stood in front of him, between the gun and Barbossa, but for the longest moment of my life he didn't see me. I put my hand on the barrel of the gun. "Put it down, Jack. He's not worth it."

I slowly and gently pushed the gun down. His wild, hurt, lost eyes found mine and something clicked into place. I held his gaze as I peeled his fingers away from the handle of the gun and slipped it out of his hands. The surface where he had been holding it was warm to the touch. I looked at Teague, "I think it would be best if you took him to you're ship tonight."

He nodded and gave me a brief smile. As he lead Barbossa away Jack called out, "And the rest of them! Take his crew too."

I looked at him, as did everyone else. Teague's crew remained hesitant, unsure as to whether to follow Jack's orders to lock away a crew who had readily handed themselves over and been absolutely no threat to us. "Jack…" I said quietly. "You don't mean that…"

"I do, he assured me.

"Jack…" I sighed. What was he doing to our friends? And why? They had helped us, helped him. Teague nodded to his crew and the _Pearl's _crew were marched across to the other ship. Jack's jaw clenched as he watched them all go. I turned his face towards mine. "What are you doing?"  
"I don't know how much I can trust them."

"They didn't fight for Barbossa, they fought for you," I said gently. "You can trust them."

He nodded slowly. "I… know I… I'll free them in the morning…" he promised. "But I just want _one _night on my ship with _someone _I can trust."

He closed his eyes as he let out a sigh. The sigh released all his pent-up tension and his muscles relaxed. He stayed there with his eyes shut as I watched the anger drain from his body. I stretched up and pressed my lips lightly to his. His arms wrapped around my waist. "I love you," I whispered.

He smiled and opened his eyes, "I love you too."

The boarding planks were sliding away from the _Pearl_. I looked around the deck. It was so quiet now…so peaceful… it was… "Home," I finished aloud. "I'm home…"

My eyes followed the line of the rail as it circled the ship, not hemming us in, but keeping us safe. I knew the wood almost better than I knew myself. I had heard rumours that the reason the wood and the sails were black was because it had been stained that way by all the blood spilled on her or by her crew. I had no idea if there was any truth behind us behind it and I had a feeling that Jack would lie if I were to ask him either to impress me or to cover up for the fact that he didn't actually know. Whether it was blood or not, the _Pearl _was definitely stained by something that had seeped its way into the wood… it was history. Events that had happened here and the people who had walked the deck, even if only briefly, had lingered on in some way or other. The _Pearl _absorbed everything. I could almost feel the history running through the grains in the wood as if they were veins and the _Pearl _was a real living being, breathing with each swell of the waves beneath her. It was just people and moments that ran through her veins, she kept secrets too. Every emotion that had ever been felt, every smell- good, bad or… Tortuga- and every sound- a laugh, a shout, a cry or the final, dying breath of a man, she kept them all hidden, buried deep inside the grain of the wood, locked there, forever secret and forever safe. The _Pearl _breathed history in a way that no other ship had. My own history was there too, along with many others before me. All my secrets. No matter what happened to me, I would always stay here. I was as big a part of the _Pearl _as she was of me.

"Darlin'?" Jack's voice pulled me away from my train of thought. I looked at him and smiled, a rush of happiness warming me from the inside out.

"Captain," I replied and his smile matched mine. He squeezed me tightly to him and kissed my forehead.

"Are you tired?" he asked me. I considered it.

"No, I am cold though."

"Come on then," Jack led me off the deck and into the Cabin. I waited until he'd lit some candles before I shut the door. He pulled a face, "Stinks of Barbossa in here."

I laughed as he removed every trace of Barbossa's existence, taking his things and everything he had possibly touched and shoving them in drawers and cupboards with very little care or ceremony. Some were even flung out of the door. "There!" he said brightly when he was done. "Much better."

I cocked my head to one side as I surveyed his handiwork, "Hmm… I thought it looked better with all of Barbossa's things. They're just… so much nicer than yours..." He looked at me and I smiled. "I'm just teasing you, honey."

"I know," he said, but looked relieved all the same. I walked over to him and looped my arms around his neck. He held my waist, one hand resting on either side and as I looked at him I knew, yet again, that I was the safest place possible. A little ridiculous given that the person holding me was a beacon for danger.

"Well, well, Captain Sparrow," I said.

"Never tire of hearing that," he grinned. He kissed my forehead then his lips brushed lightly down my skin as they made my way to my cheek. I turned my face to catch his lips in mine. I closed my eyes and moved one of my hands to his cheek. Both of his hands slid from my hips to the small of my back and held me tightly to him. My hands slipped to rest on his chest. They slipped under the folds of his coat and he let go of me, pulling his arms back to let me slide it off him. I felt his hat against the top of my head and I reached up to remove it. Jack's kisses moved to my neck and I opened my eyes. My pulse had quickened and my breathing wasn't normal, it was quicker and more erratic. His lips were hot on my skin. One of his hands ran up my back. I laid my his hat down on the table we were standing next to and Jack's lips began to work their way back up from my collar bone. "Isabel," I felt him whisper, his lips touched mine as he said each letter of my name. I closed my eyes again, leaning into him as he kissed me harder. I could feel him pushing against me, pushing me backwards. As his hand clenched in my hair something pressed against the back of my legs and I sank down onto the soft mattress beneath me. Jack's hands on my shoulders pushed me down onto my back. He was getting harder and harder to resist, but I would have to try.

'_I should stop this,' _I thought.

I pulled my lips from his to give me some time to think. It was too hard to be rational and sensible and calm when he kissed me like that. No matter how much oxygen I tried to fill my lungs with there didn't seem to be enough reaching my brain to make it function properly. He shifted on top of me, pushing his body closer to mine, his hands running up my arms and pinning them behind my head. His lips were at my neck again, moving down.

'_Stop' _I thought, but I couldn't quite manage to say it.

"Jack…" it came out as a whisper, but it was a word at least. He murmured something to me, but I didn't catch it. His voice made my spine tingle and the feeling started to spread through me. My head was clouded by it.

'_Stop…'_

Something hard with a sharp edge dug into my stomach and I winced. "Ouch," I gasped. He pulled back, propping himself up on his elbows to look at me.

"What?" I reached down and pulled out his Compass. He laughed and took it from me. I pulled myself up a little, to clear my head a bit more. I tried to think of the best way to stop what was going on without hurting him. He was looking at the Compass and then he looked at me, "I know what I want…"

'_So do I, but I'm not sure I can give it to you.'_

"I know why it's still pointing to you."

'_Please don't ask me to sleep with you. I'm not sure I can…'_

He kissed me again and then his lips move to my ear. He kissed it before he whispered to me. His breath was rugged and deep, his voice low and breathless, "Isabel…" he murmured. His hand ran down my torso to my waist and another pushed through my hair.

"Jack…" I put my hands on his shoulders in a weak attempt to dislodge him.

_'I can't… I know what you're asking and I can't…'_

"Marry me," he breathed.

_**'WHAT??? **__Well… that's not what I was expecting at all…'_


	14. An Obvious Answer

**I wasn't expecting to update today, but this was meant to be part of the next chapter, but it got a bit big so I split it up. Hope you like it.**

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"What!?!?" I sat bolt upright, dislodging him from where he was. He sat up in front of me. I stared at him, searching his eyes for any sign that he was joking. "_**What??**__" _I said again.

"Marry me," he repeated. I pulled my knees towards me and sat up properly.

"Are… are you _sure_?"

His grin widened, something in his eyes was shining, gleaming with excitement. He took my hands in his. "If I wasn't sure I wouldn't have asked. I love you, Isabel Norrington." I had stopped breathing without realizing and I let out my breath. "This is the only way I can see to make you mine… forever."

He had an obsession with forever. This forever I had no objection to. But would it be one _he _had an objection to? "But… but…"

"But what, love?" a hint of annoyance had crept into his voice. I braced myself for the hint growing into something more. This was something I had to be sure of; it wasn't a decision that could be made without thinking about it. Especially on his part. Had he really thought this through? How long into 'forever' until he got bored of me?

"It would be a commitment, Jack. You understand that, don't you?" I tried my best not to sound patronizing, but I had to be sure.

"Yes," he nodded. "I'm not a complete fool."

"You're pretty close," I smiled. He scowled at me in a loving way.

There was a moment where we each waited for the other to speak. He looked at me. "What's the problem, Izzy?" he asked quietly. His hands slipped from mine and he leant away from me. His eyes moved from my face and fixed on some distant, non existent place. "Don't you want to marry me?"

"Yes! Of course I do! Jack… how could you… think…?" I leaned towards him, resting my hand on his cheek. His eyes slid over to mine, but he didn't move. He barely blinked. The smile was gone completely and there was no trace of it in his hollow eyes. "Please don't hate me…." I whispered and his eyes filled with doubt. "It's just…"

"Just what?" he pressed. I hated how cold his voice was getting. It only ever got that cold when he was hurt and trying to cover it up.

"You've always run from commitment."

"I have not! I don't run from anything!" he said indignantly. I raised my eyebrows at him. "Well… apart from giant sea-monsters, but that was trying to kill me. That's another thing I run from- things that are trying to kill me. But you're not going to kill me…" He shrank back and looked a little fearful. "…Are you?"

"Of course not you idiot!" I almost laughed. "Why would I do that? All I'm trying to say is that marriage is a _huge _commitment."

"I know."

"Doesn't it scare you?"

"Nothing scares me!"

Why did I get the feeling we were going round in circles? "Jack…" I sighed.

"Well… apart from giant-"

"_JACK!_"

"What?" he widened his eyes innocently as if he had no idea why I'd stopped him.

"We are _not _doing this again!"

"Doing what again," he asked as innocently. "You didn't know what giant thing I was going to say this time!"

He was so annoying.

"Why do I like you?" I wondered a loud.

He slipped an arm around my waist. I shifted to sit where I was more comfortable. "You don't," he informed me. "You love me."

"Oh yeah," I smiled, leaning into his shoulder. "That's right, so I do."

He kissed the top of my head. He sighed and then rested his chin on the top of my head. A pause weighed down on both of us. "Then why won't you marry me?"

"I will… If you're sure it's what you want?"

"Of course it is."

"It really doesn't scare you?"

"It scares the shit out of me, love." He took a deep breath, "But when has that ever been a reason not to do something that feels right?"

He entwined his fingers with mine. I watched him do it, feeling the warm solidity of his hand. "It does feel right, doesn't it?"

His chin moved from where it was and looked down at me. "Is that a yes?"

I looked up at him and smiled. "Of course it's a yes, you fool!"

He pulled me towards him, wrapping as much of himself around me as he could. I squeezed him; my fiancé- this time I could use it without wanting to throw up- tightly to me. I felt a whole range of emotions rise up inside me, like a heated wave that lifted my heart and soul and warmed my entire body. The rush of feelings gave me the strength to hug Jack tighter than I'm sure was possible. He was doing the same until we were both crushing each other. If it was at all painful I never felt it. Any pain was cancelled out completely by the happiness and pure excitement that was doing laps of my body with every beat of my heart, coursing through me in jolts. I laughed and a tear rolled out of my eye at the same time.

"We're getting married!" The smile hurt my cheeks and I laughed again. Laughter was the only way to stop me from being sick form the amount of excitement in my stomach. Jack pulled back to look me in the eyes. I felt something rise up in my throat and I panicked about being sick all over Jack. I wasn't.

I burst into tears.

"Izzy?" he said, looking at me like I was a complete lunatic. Which I was. "Are you alright?"

I tried to speak, but "I… I…. love you…" was all I could say. I had to choke it out past the giant lump in my throat. He laughed. My hands shook as I raised them to wipe the tears from my eyes which had, naturally, swollen up. I sobbed, but halfway through it turned into a laugh, which made for an interesting noise to say the least. I looked down. Jack laughed again, catching my hand in mid-air and using his own sleeve to wipe my eyes.

He bent his head to look me square in the face. I lifted my eyes to his. "You," he smiled, "Are such a nutter."

I choked out a laugh between sobs and soon the number of laughs was more than the sobs. His lips pressed against my skin, following the tear tracks down the left side of my face. I closed my eyes as he moved to do the same to the right side. I placed my palms on his cheeks. His lips caught the right corner of my mouth and I turned slowly my lips sliding gently over his to kiss him full on. My hands slipped to the back of his neck as he held onto my waist. His kiss was so gentle and so slow it almost made me start crying again. I loved him so much it hurt me. In a good way, a nice kind of aching in my heart. He pulled away.

"You alright?" he asked quietly. I smiled at how he had managed to calm me and I nodded. He smiled, and kissed me quickly, "Lets do it then." I nodded before our lips met again in a series of mini-kisses. "Come… on… then," he said in the gaps between them. I pulled back slightly.

"What…_ now_?" I asked, my eyes wide.

"Uh-huh," he kissed my cheek.

"As in right this second?"

His lips pressed against my forehead before he answered. I looked up at him, waiting, holding my breath. "No time like the present…" he smiled.

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**Please review!**


	15. Do you, Isabel Norrington

**I'M BACK!**

**Did you miss me? I missed you soooooooo much it hurt me! How have you all been? Good I hope :)**

**Okay, so on with the story and sorry about the gap.**

**LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU KNOW!  
**

**LV**

**XX  
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"Should I... should I go and get someone?" I asked, still reeling from it all. Why did things with Jack _always _have to be teetering on the brink of complete insanity? "Teague, or Barbossa... well, maybe not Barbossa seeing as he tried to kill me, but if you're dad doesn't..."

"Belle," he laughed softly, putting a finger on my lips to stop my babbling. "Shut up," he said, so I shut up and waited for him to speak and watching that twinkle of love dance in his eyes, telling me that no matter how stupid I was being, he loved me. "_I_ can do it, love. I _am _a Captain in case you'd forgotten."

"You can do it?" I echoed once he'd removed his finger.

"I can do anything, love," he winked. I laughed at his predictable response. He must have expected me to say something, but I didn't. I didn't think there was anything else left for me to say but 'I do'. In my brief moment of silence the light in his eyes faded and he pulled away from me. "If it's a problem, I understand."

"If _what's _a problem?" He was confusing me, had I said something without meaning to? If I had, how had I forgotten? What...?

He sighed. "I can't give you what you want," he said, which confused me even more. He already was. Was he having second thoughts already? That was faster than I had imagined, even for him..."I can't give you the wedding George could."

_That's_ what this was about? I almost laughed at him, but restricted myself to smiling at his stupidity, the feeling inside my chest telling me that no matter how stupid he was being, I loved him. "I don't need any of that you idiot! That's what I ran away from, remember?"

"But-"

It was my turn to silence him. "When I was younger, I dreamed of the perfect wedding, like most people," he looked sceptically at me, "-alright, most girls then-" I amended. "I thought I wanted a big, lavish wedding to a respectable husband. That's _exactly _what I had in Port Royal and all it did was show me that it means absolutely _nothing _if you are marrying the wrong man. Even if the man in question is the most respectable man in all the world."

"George is _sickeningly_ respectable," Jack grumbled.

"Sickeningly so," I agreed and he smiled. "It made me quite ill."

"Well, you shall have to find a nice un-respectable man to make you better," he bowed his head close to mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Now, where could I find myself one of those, I wonder?" I grinned. He laughed before he kissed me. When he pulled away he was still smiling.

"Better?" he asked.

"A little..."

"Hmm..." he tilted my face up and pretended to examine it. "You're still looking a bit sickened; we'll have to work on that."

He kissed me quickly and then stood up. He walked over to his desk and started rummaging around. I watched him and wondered if what the hell was going on. Had I imagined the whole conversation? I stood up, the mattress springs creaked as I did so, and crossed over to him. "What are you doing?" I asked, tense as to what the answer would be. He slammed a drawer shut.

"Looking..." He yanked another one open. "For...the... AHA!" He triumphantly held up his prize- two crumpled bits of paper. He grinned at me like I should be able to tell what they were. I don't know about you, but I find that one crumpled up bit of paper looks a lot like any other crumpled up bit of paper.

"What...?"

He waved them under my nose as if the smell would help me work out what they were. "Wedding papers," he clarified, turning his back to me as he flattened them out with his hand against the desk. "It makes the whole thing more legal. Not that I am in any way encouraging legality, you understand, but this case may be a bit of a special one, eh?"

He winked at me over his shoulders. I realised my mouth was hanging open and I hadn't blinked, or breathed of moved or... thought during his whole legality speech. "When did you get **wedding papers?**_**"**_

"It's one of the many things we Captain's can do; I've told you this already!"

"So, _all _Captains have them?"

"Nope, just the good ones!"

"Oh," I said, "Barbossa must have left them behind then..." He stopped what he was doing and I smiled. He turned slowly to look at me and narrowed his eyes, the echo of a smile tugging simultaneously at the corners of his mouth.

"You're funny," he said dryly.

"Glad you agree," I smiled, sticking my tongue out. He pulled the same face back at me and we both grinned like idiots. There was a silence as he stared to smooth out the other bit of paper. "So..." I said and he sighed because I'm sure he knew what I was going to ask. I hated not knowing things like this, it was so frustrating! "Where did they come from?"

"In truth?" he sighed.

"Well we've tried in lies and that didn't work..."

"I don't know, they've been here for ages. They were probably kept over from some loot or another." I nodded, forgetting he had his back to me and couldn't see me. He glanced over his shoulder. "Happy now?"

I took a step towards him and wrapped my arms around his middle. I stretched up to put my chin on his shoulder and hugged him closer. "Ecstatic," I mumbled with a deliberate lack of enthusiasm and he snorted with a mixture of laughter and annoyance. I kissed him on the cheek. His hands moved to cover where mine met round his waist.

"You ready?" he asked, taking one of my hands and popping a quill in it.

"If you are," I still felt the need to test him on this. He just smiled and picked up his own quill, deciding to answer me in a gesture rather than words. I moved to stand beside him and he slid the piece of paper towards me. I didn't really bother to read it in any detail; I knew it was what I wanted. I skimmed it and got the general idea. It was basically to be sure that the marriage was going ahead with full consent from both parties. It made me wonder, briefly what would have happened in Port Royal if they had tried to make me sign anything. I would have refused, but maybe James had already signed me off, taking away my freedom to choose. Signed me away with very little thought. Not that I had to think about it that much as I signed it myself. Jack didn't look like he did either, which I didn't know whether to take as a positive thing or if I should worry about it.

There wasn't really all that much time to do any worrying, once the papers were signed that was kind of it. Jack slipped his arm around my waist and turned me towards him. I opened my mouth to ask what was going to happen next but then I saw the look in his eyes, felt his breath on my face and forgot every word that had ever been invented. He smiled. "Do you, Isabel Norrington," his arms pulled my hips closer to his. My hands ran up his arms to join around his neck. He kissed my forehead and then when I looked up at him he smiled again and kissed my lips once, very quickly.

I tilted my head to one side in mock disapproval. "I'm pretty sure the kissing me bit comes later on..."

"Ah, well, I've never been one for order," he said and kissed me again to prove his point. "You've interrupted me now... where was I?"

"You were marrying us," I reminded him, reaching out a hand to brush my fingertips down the side of his face.

"Oh yeah, so I was," he smiled. "Do you, Isabel Norrington, take me to be you're lawfully wedded husband..." He kissed my forehead, my cheek, and my lips.

_'Yes,' _a voice inside my head seemed to whisper, but he wasn't done with me yet.

"...to live together in the covenant of marriage." My lips brushed against his skin, catching the edges of his lips. I longed to kiss him, but didn't want him to stop talking. I pressed myself to him, feeling the need to be closer start to burn in my mind and my soul. The cool metal clasp of the baldric* he wore over one shoulder seemed freezing against my hot skin. I ran my fingers round the rim and then slipped them underneath to help lift it off him- it was only getting in the way... And as for his pistol holster... well that would definitely have to go. I reached down to unfasten it. He smiled and his eyes fixed on mine. "To have and to hold from this day forward..."

_ Yes._

His hands slid across my hips and round the back to join at the small of my back where they stayed for a moment of two before one hand began to move slowly up my spine. "For better," he kissed my forehead, "for worse," he kissed the very tip of my nose, "for richer," his lips pressed against my left cheek before moving to my right, "for poorer... in sickness and in heath," his lips brushed lightly against my own, toying with me and pulling back just enough when I tried to kiss him properly that I couldn't quite manage, but so I could still feel his lips lightly on mine. It was like they were not quite there, like he was a ghost. I could feel every word he whispered to me from his lips grazing against mine as he spoke, "to be faithful to me forever, forsaking all others." His lips finally met mine properly. It was a strange kind of relief to have them there, at last, after all that waiting and longing. His kiss was light at first, still teasing me, but as I slipped off his waist coat and he slid a thumb under the first tie of my dress it deepened. I felt him tug at it, loosening the knot. He pulled himself away with great difficulty, his lips leaving mine with slow reluctance. "To love until death we do part?" The silence, more than anything else told me that he was finished and I smiled.

"No."

He stared at me and I felt my smile widen at his utter confusion. He had frozen up around me, the muscles in his arms tense and rigid. I reached up on my toes, meeting his eyes and mine. I leaned in to kiss him but before our lips touched I whispered, "Death couldn't part us."

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**Please please please please please review! :)**


	16. Do you, Jack Sparrow

I pushed myself in towards him in my longing to be closer. He tightened his grip on my waist and kept my hips pressed against his. My arms loosened from where they had been wrapped tightly around his neck. As my grip slipped my hand ran across the back of his shoulders and round his neck. I let them both rest on the back of his neck before they moved almost of their own accord. I felt his collar bone under my fingertips before I had any idea that I had moved them at all. They squeezed down into the gap between our bodies, running down his chest. The first closed button on his shirt met my fingers and without much thought I fumbled with it, twisting it through the buttonhole. He relaxed back a little to allow me to reach the next one by his navel. The fourth one down was blocked slightly by his belt and sash. I pulled on the knot and undid it with one hand as the other one reached up and cupped his face. His kiss deepened, his lips crushing against mine. As the knot unravelled and I pulled the sash away I slipped my hand back down and under one of the belts he had on his hips. I dropped the sash and used my recently free hand to help undo it. With both of them out of the way I was able to unbutton the rest of his shirt. He pulled his arms back and tugged on the sleeves to help me get it off him. I felt my hands shake a little as they reached out to touch his bare chest. His lips pulled reluctantly and slowly from mine. "So... that's an 'I do'?"

He sounded out of breath. I realised that my own breathing was a little irregular. I nodded. "Yes, yes... I do, of course I do!" He smiled and reached down to kiss me, but I put a finger to his lips. He looked at me, surprised, but stayed silent. "Not so fast, Mr Sparrow! You've got to say it too!"

His lips tensed against my finger and he kissed it which made me smile. I took it away to let him speak and linked my hands round the back of his neck. He smiled at me. "Isabel Sparrow," was all he whispered and it sent beautiful chills down my spine. He lent down and I lifted myself up to kiss him.

"Do you," I started as he pulled away. His lips moved straight to my neck. I wrapped my arms around his middle. His skin was warmer than I thought it would be. "...Jack Sparrow, take me to be you're lawfully wedded wife, to live together..."

I broke off as his mouth moved back up from my neck to meet mine. His kiss and his eyes were hungry, but it didn't unsettle me in the way it had before. In a strange way, it made me feel the same. And it didn't shock me to realise that it was because I wanted what he wanted. He pressed himself to me with such force that he pushed me backwards, backing me up against the wall. When he could not physically get any closer to me he broke the kiss. I kept my eyes closed against the sudden heat that was either coming from one or both of us. His breathing was deep and heavy by my ear, and as completely out of normality as my own. "Go on..." he managed to whisper. How could I when he'd completely made me forget what I was saying, what I was doing, what I was thinking? His fingers linked with mine and he pinned my hand momentarily against the wall. "Izzy," he breathed and my spine tingled. His lips caught mine again, just once. "To live together," he prompted me, whispering it into my ear. I shivered again at the sound of his voice.

"To live together," I repeated, trying to get my head straight. "In the covenant of marriage... To have and to hold from this day forward..." I arched my back into him as his hands moved from my hips to my back. I felt him give another tug on the strings of my dress. It loosened around me and I pulled him tighter to me, his hips crushing against mine. We had and held each other like we never wanted to let go. His lips returned to mine for a moment of bliss where my thirst for him was almost, _almost _satisfied. It was enough to dilute it, but nowhere near enough to quench it and once he had stopped kissing me the longing came back, burning in the pit of my stomach and in my mind and soul. His hands ran down the length of my sides and then back up again, back to the knots holding my dress on.

"For better," I kissed the join between his neck and his jaw.

Ties one, two and three were completely gone.

"For worse," I murmured.

Four and five were down too.

"For richer."

Six and seven... gone.

"For poorer."

Eight. Nine.

"In sickness..."

Ten. Eleven.

"...and in health." I remembered the scars and burns he had showed me while we'd been trapped on that island with Elizabeth and I ran one hand up to his collar bone where two burns were still visible, although not as dark as they had been. I held onto him tighter as if that could somehow help me take back all those scars. All those moments where piracy and freedom had hurt him. I ran my fingertip lightly over each scar and bruise in turn, tracing their shapes and trying to erase them before I kissed them like I could make it better. I knew it was a promise so impossible I shouldn't even have bothered thinking about it, but I wanted to stop him from ever being hurt ever again. I wanted to keep him. Forever safe and forever mine. His kiss stopped me breathing, but I let it, enjoying the breathlessness at the end. When I pulled back to recover I looked him deep in the eyes. I wanted to heal him because over the years of mutiny and betrayal he had been broken. He didn't understand why I looked at him they way he did but the look in his eyes matched the intensity that I was feeling. He kissed me again, my hands rested on his bare chest and I felt it rising and falling erratically. When I looked at him this time it was to be sure he got the message of the next part. To be sure he understood my emphasis. "To be faithful to me forever, forsaking _all_ others..."

One side of his mouth twitched into a loving smile. "There's only you now," he breathed so quietly I almost missed it. "You can trust me, love."

I nodded and he did too. He smiled at me and I finished, proud of myself for remembering and hoping I'd left nothing out, "To love until death we do part?"

He kissed me again. "I do," he said in a tiny break between kisses.

Once he'd said it that was that. We were finished talking for now. I kissed him harder and he responded. He took the tiniest step backwards and pulled me with him, creating a space between my back and the wall that was just big enough for his hands to fit through and slide into the gap he had created in the back of my dress. He peeled it back. His fingers brushed against my shoulder blades as he tucked them under the folds of the opening he had created and slid it off my shoulders. I tugged my hands and arms free of it and he slipped his hands down the inside of the dress. They ran down my body and he pulled the top of the dress with him, peeling it of me. He got to my hips and pushed the dress off them. I heard the material hit the floor and Jack simultaneously whisper for me. His hands lingered on my hips as his lips, once more returned to mine. Then they slid round the back and his fingers very lightly ran up my spine, keeping up with the tingles he'd put there. They ran from the small of my back to my neck until one stayed to play with my hair and the other brushed back down to the base of me corset. His fingers ran along the bottom, then up where it tied at the back before moving across my collarbone to the middle and then down my chest to the ties at the front. His other hand moved to join it and his lips crushed against mine more purposefully and seriously than before. He rocked his hips against mine. My hands roamed his chest, his back, his arms and stomach, my fingertips memorizing every inch of his skin. He untied the knot and then just pulled until my corset came undone. I wouldn't have cared if he'd ripped it to be honest.

He dropped it to the floor and pulled me forwards, towards him as he stepped back. I let him lead me across the room and we came to a stop by the bed. He twisted me round and I sat down. The springs creaked as he sat down next to me, breaking our kiss only to look at me as he pushed me onto my back. I reached up to pull him down to kiss him. I had a moment of panic when his hand reached the hem of my gown and pulled it up as it ran up my leg. I froze up as the hem and his hand reached my thigh. He pulled back. "You alright, love?" he whispered.

I looked at him, at the love and concern in his eyes and I smiled. I was alright. I was more than alright. I nodded and sat up to kiss him before helping him pull my gown over my head. He kissed me again and I smiled, knowing that forever started tonight.


	17. A Taste of His Own Medicine

I heard a heartbeat and in the moment between waking and dreaming I wondered who's it was, thought it was my own and was puzzled as to why it was so unusually loud. Something brushed against me and I almost jumped out of my skin. A laugh tapped into my sleepy ears and I opened my eyes. Jack's stared back at me and I blinked again. He smiled. "Sorry," his voice was all husky in the morning. "I didn't mean to give you a fright, love."

I smiled. "You didn't..." I mumbled. He laughed again. My eyes closed momentarily as he kissed my forehead and in that moment I felt myself almost fall back asleep, but I pulled myself back from the precipice of consciousness and opened my eyes again before I fell.

"Yes, I did, you should have seen yourself jump!" I looked up at him. His arms closed tightly around me and pulled me closer. I moved to rest my head on his chest, reaching my arm out to hug his waist. He rested his chin on my head and I took a deep breath, breathing him in. His skin was so warm against mine that it was on the verge of tipping over into being uncomfortable, but I never, ever wanted to move. I would happily have died there. I may not even have noticed if I did.

We lay in silence for what could have been forever, but naturally didn't last long enough. I smiled at how comfortable I was and the knowledge that I would be this comfortable every day from this moment on. The room was light; I wondered how long we had been asleep and how much longer we could afford to lie where we were. I sighed as I became increasingly aware that time was trickling onwards, refusing to freeze. "I suppose..." I said, half-heartedly and regretting speaking the second I had done so. Maybe if I'd kept quiet I wouldn't have to move. Who needs food anyway? "...we should be getting up."

I looked at him again and was surprised to see him smiling in a way that made me happy and excited even though I had no idea what he was about to say. His left hand stopped playing with my hair and ran down the side of my face to tilt my head up to his. He kissed me once and wrapped both arms tightly around my middle. "We still have time..." he whispered and I smiled back before I kissed him again. I knew exactly what he meant and almost laughed at how I had tried to resist him before. What had I been so worried about? Being with him... properly _with _him was bliss. Sheer bliss.

The deck of Teague's ship was full of his crew when we stepped out on to the deck of the _Pearl_ and looked across. Teague saw us. I waved, but he and Jack stayed motionless and I lowered my hand feeling foolish for forgetting that anything other than awkwardness was banned from their relationship. The boarding planks were slid back across for Jack and I. Jack went first and I followed, panicking slightly about losing my footing and falling ungracefully into the sea. I made it to the other side with minimal embarrassment and only when I saw the deck come into sight did I allow myself to glance up form where I had been staring intently at my feet to make sure they behaved themselves.

"Yer crew's in the brig," Teague reminded Jack as he hopped down. "Ye best deal with 'em now."

Jack nodded, "I shall, but first I would like to introduce you to Mrs Isabel Sparrow." I took Jack's outstretched hand, but was too busy smiling at Teague's shock to watch my feet. I slipped down onto the deck. Jack caught me with my face inches away from the wood. I scrambled up again. Jack snorted as he helped me to my feet. "Elegantly done..." he muttered.

"Quiet you," I gave him a gentle whack on the arm.

"Congratulations, lad," Teague smiled, but the smile was not as warm as it was when he smiled at me. "Welcome to the family, Isabel."

"Thanks," I smiled back, not quite sure if this was the correct response, having never been in this situation before. Teague surveyed us both.

"I'll be wanting a word with both of ye," he said sternly. My insides twisted and I felt a bit sick. He glanced at Jack, "Especially you lad."

Jack feigned a bright look and tone, "To the brig then?"

Teague nodded and turned to lead us down. "Nice subject change," I whispered.

"Thanks," he replied. "Gives us time to run away."

A silence fell in the brig of Teague's ship as we entered and Jack's grip on my waist tightened. I felt his entire body tense and I moved closer to him, coiling both arms around his waist and feeling his muscles relax a little. I looked at his eyes, which were fixed on the crew that had betrayed him... again. The air prickled between us and the crew. They waited to hear of their fate, each one of them hoping and praying for the best. Jack opened his mouth, sighed, then closed it again. "Gentlemen," was all he said before the sound of boots on stairs interrupted him. Teague came to stand behind him. Jack twisted to see him, they looked at each other before Jack looked back to the crew.

"Do you know what you want to do yet, lad?" Teague asked and everyone in the cells leant forwards, as if that would influence the decision or let them hear it any sooner. Jack looked back at them and nodded.

"They go free," he said. "All but Barbossa."

There were looks and sighs of relief from every corner. I felt myself relax a little too, happy with his decision. I glanced at Teague for any sign of approval, or feeling towards what Jack had decided to do, but there was nothing. Jack never seemed to get much guidance from Teague unless it was very important. Teague was content to let Jack be Jack and learn from his own mistakes, unless asked specifically for his opinion. Two of his men moved to unlock the cells and let everyone scurry past onto the deck until it was just Barbossa left. He and Jack stared at each other.

"You going to have me killed Jack?" Barbossa asked as if he was inquiring to something as nonchalant as the weather. Jack shook his head.

"Death's too good for you," he said simply before he turned on his heels and walked with me out of the brig, coming out as the bigger person.

"Jack..." Barbossa looked satisfyingly worried. Obviously the taste of his own medicine did not agree with him. The expression on his face made the side of Jack's lips twitch. "I'd rather hoped we were past all this..."

"Hector... Hector... Hector..." Jack shook his head. Barbossa flinched with each use of his first name. "Had you not noticed? That be the island _you _made _me _Governor of on our last trip..."

He waited for a reply. I could see Barbossa's pained expression and Jack relishing in the taste of revenge. Barbossa narrowed his eyes and seeing that Jack was waiting until he fully acknowledged it he nodded and, through gritted teeth, said "Aye, I had."

"Well maybe you can conjure up an escape as clever as the one I did," Jack looked him up and down "...I rather doubt it."

I stopped myself from deflating his big moment by pointing out that it had been _Elizabeth _who had got us off that island, not him. Barbossa's upper lip curled in pure hatred and Jack nodded to Pintel, who, rather tentatively, handed Barbossa a pistol with one shot. Barbossa took it and glared at him. Pintel tried to smile innocently, but to be honest it didn't really work. He backed away and moved to hide at the back of the crew with Ragetti who gave him a consoling nod. It was a nod that sympathised with him, but did not promise to back him up should Barbossa return and decide to shoot everyone who had played even the tiniest part in his humiliation. Barbossa looked back at Jack. "Off you go then!" Jack waved him away, as if dismissing a pest.

Barbossa glared at him and for a second I though he wasn't going to move at all. But then he turned slowly, dragging his glare away from Jack's smile in an attempt to leave the hatred lingering behind him to dissolve Jack's happiness. "Ye aint heard the last from me..." he muttered audibly enough for everyone on deck to hear him. Jack tutted and rolled his eyes.

"Get on with it!" he shouted, not in the least bit bothered Barbossa's threat. A few voices rose among Teague's crew and Jack's alike to jeer at Barbossa as his foot hit the plank. He strode straight to the edge and stepped off, not giving anyone the satisfaction of hearing him complain or see him having to be forced off the end. A splash signalled that he was gone and everyone dashed to the side. We watched the water ripple and waited for a sign of him re-surfacing. There was a screech and Jack the Monkey flew from the rigging to the rail. He landed with a thud and as a dark shape rose to the surface he let out another screech. When Barbossa's head broke through the waves Jack the Monkey jumped down into the water to swim alongside his master. I felt a little twinge and beside me Ragetti sighed. "I'd rather grown to like that monkey," he said a little wistfully. I turned to agree with him, but on hearing various tuts form the crew and seeing some of the looks he was getting I decided to keep my mouth shut. It was these occasions I was thankful Ragetti was here to voice my stupidest thoughts before I did.

We watched Barbossa swim away. A few crewmembers got bored and wandered off, but Jack stayed as I could have guessed he would. "I hope he drowns," he said cheerfully.

"Are there sharks here?" I wondered aloud. I think Jack's smile was physically too big for him to talk. He watched eagerly, but there were no shark attacks of incidents of drowning.

"Damn," Jack muttered when Barbossa reached the island safe and sound, he looked disappointed for a second or two, but brightened up again. "Oh well, at least now that man can watch me sail away on _my _ship!"

Our crew were already getting ready to make sail. We left Teague with a promise to meet him in Tortuga and boarded the _Pearl_ again. Teague's ship was first to set off, despite ours being ready first. Jack was adamant that the _Pearl _be the last ship Barbossa saw. With Teague at a distance that Jack deemed far enough away we were allowed to set sail. Barbossa was nothing but a speck on the island. Soon the island would be just a speck in an almost empty sea. I say almost because we could see white sails on the horizon behind the island, but it was too far away to be even a slight problem so we paid the ship very little attention. Perhaps, looking back on it in hindsight, that was a huge mistake...


	18. Family Matters

**Okay, okay I know it's been a sinfully long time and I'm SORRY OK! Hopefully now it's SUMMER (even though it's raining, but stil... no school :D) I'll have more time, but you know what's it's like. You get inspiration for something else and get a bit caught up in that and everything else gets a little bit neglected, but it's all good now, I'm back ontop(ish). Anyway I'm rambling so I'll shut up now... xD**

**LOVE YOU  
LV  
XX  
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I could have watched him all day, running around his ship trying to do everything just so he had an excuse to re-acquaint himself with every inch of her. I could see the happiness in his eyes and couldn't help but smile at his attempts to cover up his emotions in front of his crew. Despite the fact she was in the right hands now, all aboard the _Pearl _was not quite back to normal. There was an air, a tension between Captain and crew that was bubbling just below the surface of what was, at first glance, a pretty standard relationship. The crew were nervous, I could tell. Scared that they had been tricked and could be shot the minute we had arrived safely in Tortuga and could pick up a new crew. Those that knew Jack weren't as worried about it, but I think they were all feeling guilty about what they had done. Jack was trying to act as naturally as possible, but I could see it was putting a strain on him. Trust was something that was going to have to be worked on, not that Jack would ever admit to having a problem with it. I hoped that it didn't drive him to do anything stupid.

It was getting dark when we reached Tortuga. In the backwards life of the pirate port the end of the day was the time when most people seemed to be getting up from wherever they had fallen the night before. We arrived late enough to spot the first dangerously drunken people, but early enough to hear the grumblings of those who were at the stage of being so hung-over they swore as they took a sip of rum that they would never drink again. People were just beginning to feel the effects of the amount they had drank the night before and fixing that feeling with another tankard of booze. I often wondered how there were still people here. Surely _that _much drink, throwing up and _no _sleep would kill them!

"Erm... Isabel?" Jack tugged on my arm. I looked up him.

"Yes?"

"We have to go and... you seem a bit _too _interested in that man being sick over there for it to be normal, love." I glanced back at focused on what I had been absent-mindedly staring at. I looked away again quickly.

"That," I took a deep breath. "May be the most disgusting thing I've ever seen in my life."

"Then why are you still looking?" he asked as I glanced back.

"I just... didn't know sick could be that colour..." I winced and turned away again as I heard him retch. Jack laughed, slung an arm over my shoulder walked me over to where Teague had saved us a table in the _Faithful Bride_. Both Captains had left their crew to do as they pleased in the port. Two mugs of rum were waiting for Jack and me when we sat down. Teague said nothing, Jack said nothing. I tried to think of _something, _but in the end I too said nothing. Teague and Jack kept their eyes locked on one another and then Teague reached for his rum. Jack did the same and, still staring at each other, they both took a long swig. I took a normal-person-sized sip of my own rum and waited for them to finish their drink-off or whatever they were doing. They finished at exactly the same time and both mugs hit the table.

"Right," said Teague as if something had been cleared up and they were moving onto another topic. "You remember the condition, on which I helped you get back the _Pearl, _don't you lad?"

Jack nodded once. "You need our help with something."

"Aye and you agreed. There was no limit and we shook on it."

"Yes..." Jack sounded a little wary and immediately my stomach started twisting itself in knots. I glanced at Jack for a shred of comfort, but he was still looking at his father. What had he signed us up for?

"Well, I'll be needing your help with... a family mat-"

"No," Jack said bluntly, the second the word "family" had come out of Teague's mouth. Teague sighed.

"Jack-y..." he tried a softer approach.

"No."

There was a second of silence. Jack's eyes slid towards the door and when he moved his hands to underneath the table I saw that they were shaking. The muscles in his face had tightened, his jaw clenched shut and his eyes were like stone, closed of any emotions. Teague lent forward in his chair and rested his elbows on the table. "Are you going back on your word, lad?"

His tone made me shiver, but Jack stayed absolutely still. His voice was quiet, but firm. "I'm not going back _there_," he said. "You know that."

"You agreed-"

"Anything but that," he looked directly at his father. "I will help with anything else."

"I'm not changing my end of the bargain, lad."

Jack took a deep breath, held it for a second and then exhaled slowly. "And I'm not changing my mind."

"I just want you home for-"

"That place is _not _home." I could see Jack's teeth grinding together.

"You can't run from us forever, Jack-y." Teague lent back. Jack stood up, kicking his chair back.

"Yes I can." He turned his back on both of us.

"Jack..." I said, not sure what was happening next.

"No!" he snapped over his shoulder and the word pinned me to my chair as he stormed out of the tavern.

"We had a deal!" Teague shouted after him. The door slammed shut and Teague sighed. With Jack gone he visibly shrank into his seat, his shoulders relaxed, slumped forward in defeat. He looked at me and I noticed how tired he looked, how strained.

"I'm... sorry," I said quietly, not sure if that was the right word.

"I shouldn't have sprung it on him like that." Teague shook his head. "I should've made him shake on it first, let him know what I wanted, but I knew he wouldn't agree."

Teague looked a bit wistful and for a moment his eyes lost focus on the present and a sad smile touched the edges of his lips at the memory of day long-gone or the thought of what he wanted. He blinked out of it and looked at me again, seemingly surprised to see me for a moment. I stood up, "I... I should..." I gestured to the door. "... see Jack," I finished lamely. Teague nodded.

"Have a word with him for me, will you?" I tried to avoid his eyes, so that I could say 'no', but they found me. And I had to say yes because although we were both adults, Teague has this way of making you feel like have to do what he tells you because he knows best. In short, he makes you feel like a child. He saw me nod and smiled. "I want to see you both tomorrow, Isabel, so make sure he doesn't make sail too early."

"Oh, I doubt the crew will be up for an early start anyway," I smiled, wondering what state they would be in by morning. Teague smiled back.

"Goodnight, Isabel."

"Goodnight." I smiled again and stood up to trace my husband's footsteps in slightly more peaceful way than he had first walked them.

No lights shone from the windows of the _Pearl_ as I approached it. They were all dark, black like the wood. I started to panic as the noise from the town faded away into the distance, whether that was because the _Pearl _was right at the end of the docks or because I was concentrating on something else, I'm not sure. I was worried that I should have gone with Jack immediately; made sure he was safe and wasn't going to hurt anyone... or himself. I didn't know what I would do if I couldn't find him on the _Pearl_.

I glanced around the deck- nothing, not that I expected him to be there. I stopped outside the Cabin. There was a light on in there, I could see a flickering through the crack between the doors, but I couldn't hear anything. I don't know if I was expecting to or not, but I still listened before I opened the door and peeked in. He was there and I felt the relief course through me. I closed the door quietly behind me. He had his back to me, sitting on the bed with his shoulders hunched over. I waited.

"Jack?" I said softly not sure if he'd even noticed me.

"I won't do it, Izzy!" he said, his voice sounded a bit thick. "I won't!"

I reminded myself of how hard Teague had taken it and my promise to give it a shot talking to Jack. "Maybe... we could go, not for very long, but we'd-"

He turned his face to look at me over his shoulder. "I ran away from there for a _reason, _Bell!" he shouted through gritted teeth. He looked away from me again and put his head in his hands. "Surely you of all people can understand that!"

I let his words hang there as I quietly moved to sit next to him. He looked at me. I saw the strain in is eyes. "I do understand," I whispered, putting my arms around him and pulling him close.

"Good." His voice was muffled by my shoulder. He relaxed into me.

I hugged him as tight as I could and let the silence engulf us. I took it in, processed and digested everything that had gone on both today and in the past. It had never occurred to me how similar we were. It may have happened differently, but what it boiled down to was that both Jack and I had run from the place that _should _have been home, but wasn't and we had both found our real home was here on the _Pearl... _with each other.

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**Reveiw please! Ta.**


	19. Ashes From the Past

**Hello my lovelies! How are we today? :) Before we begin are there any Batman fans in the house? Just wondering because I have a new Dark Night fic up if any of you are interested. It's about the Joker in the early days. Anyhoodles if you want to have a look then do if you don't then... don't.**

**LV**

**xx  
**

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Teague was as good as his word. He came to see Jack and I as dawn broke over Tortuga. The sun seemed to rise more slowly than usual, hung-over from the night before. The crew were stumbling back. I found many asleep on the deck and rather worryingly both Pintel and Ragetti were found in the same bunk. They woke up terrified and both promptly fell out, swearing never to talk to each other ever again and then just swearing in general. I stayed close to Jack so that he didn't try and make a run for it before all the crew were back. I closed in on his left shoulder as his father appeared on the gangplank.

"No," said Jack curtly before Teague could even open his mouth.

"You don't know what I'm here to say, lad." Teague followed Jack and I on to the deck. Jack turned his back on him.

"I can guess and it's still a 'no'."

Teague stopped; his shoulders slumped forward in defeat. I glanced back at him and sighed at the wistful look on his face as Teague stared at the back of his son's head. Jack carried on, not looking as if he really cared if his dad was still there or not. "She's dead."

Jack stopped. I stopped. Who was dead? I looked from Teague to Jack and back again. Jack didn't turn. I took his hand and he gave a little jolt back into reality. "The old bat?" he asked. Teague nodded and then realised that Jack couldn't see him.

"Yes," he whispered. Teague's eyes were a little bright.

"Good," said Jack sourly. Teague looked to the heavens and then back at his son. Jack wasn't finished. "Took her long enough. She must have been near a thousand."

He sounded so bitter and cruel. I half wanted to remind him that you shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but then I reminded myself that some members of the dead deserved it. Like Jones and Beckett. "It happened a while back actually," Teague tried to keep his tone light. "But you weren't around to know. I didn't see you 'till the Court meeting and it was all a bit hectic then."

"Oh."

It was all Jack said. There was a silence that could easily have marked the end of the conversation, but neither of them moved. It didn't feel like the end because there was still a massive weight pushing down on everyone. "There's some ashes needing scattered," Teague said eventually. Jack sighed.

"Just tip 'em overboard."

"She wanted her family to do it," Teague pressed on. Silence. "That's you an' me Jack-y."

There was a pause before Jack turned. "And why should I care what _she_ wanted?"

"She was your grandmother, Jack," Teague's tone was a heavy one. "She was family."

Jack snorted. "No she wasn't! Have you forgotten what she did?" He narrowed his eyes. "Or does her passing make it somehow acceptable?"

Teague shook his head. "Of course I remember what she did, lad, but these were the last wishes of a dying woman, my mother. She was alright towards the end. She wanted to make things right."

Jack's grip tightened on mine. "And she thinks that me scattering her ashes will do that?" he snarled. "I just want rid of the cow."

"You will be rid of her, for good, if you help get rid of her remains. You can't run from her forever, but you can put it all at rest."

"Closure," I mutter without realising I'm saying it. They both look at me, but I can't really see them. James's gravestone floats in my mind's eye and I remember the feeling of peace I got after seeing it. Knowing he was truly gone had helped me move on, seeing it for myself made it real, painful, but better than any doubt and uncertainty would have been. When you see that someone has gone for good it makes it easier to come to terms with. Otherwise you can spend your whole life thinking you can see them, that they'll come back.

I blink away the image and look at Teague. "She's right, Jack-y. Closure's what you need. You've been runnin' from this for too long. Do this one thing and it's all over, for good."

Jack glared at some non-existent place in front of him. He wasn't glaring at Teague, or me, or anything in particular. Then he blinked and looked at his father. "Fine," he snapped through a clenched jaw. "But I'm not doing it for her."

"Thank you, son," Teague nodded and looked genuinely grateful. Jack turned on his heels and left without another word. Teague watched him go and then turned to me. "Sorry, lass, he'll be in a foul mood for the next few weeks."

I tried not to sigh, I really did. "That's alright. I'm sure I can handle another sulk."

Teague smiled. "I never could. You should go speak to him, lass. He'll need you."

I nodded. "I suppose we'll be seeing more of each other."

"That we will."

"You did a good thing Jack," I said quietly as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He rested his head on my shoulder and sighed.

"Yeah? Well why does it make me feel so bloody awful." I gave him a squeeze. "She wasn't nice you know. My grandmother, far from it. She was a bloody tyrant. Nothing was good enough, nothing."

I smiled. "My grandmother was a bit like that."

"No," he pulled back. "She couldn't have been. I was scared of her, love. Scared of when she got violent."

A gasp escaped my lips. "Oh... Jack..."

"I've been a pirate all my life and I carry more scars from her than I do from any of my other misfortunes."

I pulled him closer, unable to find the words to describe how I was feeling. I thought that most of Jack's scars were from accidents not cause by a member of his own family... deliberately... repeatedly. "Jack," I whispered, trying to find something, anything to say to give him a slight bit of comfort. I wanted to go back to Jack's childhood and pull him out of there, so it never had to have happened. My heart felt heavy and my eyes stung a little round the edges.

"It's okay, love," he rubbed my back in a soothing manner and I almost laughed. Why was it that I was the one being comforted about _his _problems? "Maybe it is best that I do this. Put it behind me, eh?"

"Yeah," I murmured. I hugged him tight one more time and then pulled back to look him in the eyes. "I love you, you know."

"I know it," he smiled and kissed me gently, pulling my hips to his, but before we could really get into it the door was flung open. We sprang apart in alarm and there stood Teague, red faced and angry, holding the Charts to the Fountain of Youth in one hand.

"JACK SPARROW!" he bellowed.

"Oh. Bugger."

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**Ta for reading and review pleeeeeeeeease! **

**LV  
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	20. Eavesdropping

**Hello!**

**I would have posted this earlier, but there was something wrong with my Word Documents, so to cut a looooooooong story short I had to re-type everything onto another typing programme. Anyway, enjoy!  
**

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"Aaand... this one's all up to you..." I stepped away from Jack.

"Helpful. Thanks for the support," he said through gritted teeth as his dad took several steps towards him. The Charts were shaking in his hand and his face had gone a little red.

"What," he seethed, spit flying out from between his clenched teeth. "Is _this_?"

"Erm..." Jack hesitated. I willed him to tell the truth on the principle that I quite liked my husband alive. He, it seemed, did not value this quite as much. "Not mine."

Teague obviously did not believe him. "Oh really? Well it was left on _my _ship, where _you _had been staying. It's not mine. It's not my crew's. It must be yours."

Jack widened his eyes innocently, "Never seen 'em in my life."

"Well," Teague narrowed his eyes. "You won't mind if I burn them then."

Jack's front teeth bit down onto his bottom lip and he leaned forwards on the balls of his feet as Teague held the Charts over a burning candle. Teague kept his eye locked on his son as he lowered the Charts over the flame. I could see Jack swallowing back words of protest, almost shouting out several times, but refraining until the flame was dancing less than an inch away from the Charts. "DON'T!" he suddenly called out and then clamped a hand over his own mouth.

Teague pulled the Charts away from the flame. "So they _are _yours?"

"Erm... no."

"Well, whose are they?"

There was a brief moment of silence where Teague and I both waited for Jack to answer. "Isabel's," he suddenly pointed at me. I jumped at the sound of my name. My mouth dropped open.

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow at Jack, but he wasn't really looking. Teague's eyes slid over to meet mine and I was suddenly terrified that he would believe him. "They're not," I said shakily, starting to panic about whether or not I sounded believable. I should be because I was telling the truth, but what if he were to misinterpret that? I was somehow doubting myeslf even though I knew I was right. This was madness. I prayed for Teague to believe me. He let the silence drag on. Then he stared back at Jack again. I looked at jack too and we both glared at him until he cracked.

"Alright, they're not," he admitted and I felt myself relax. "But they _are _Barbossa's." He sounded triumphant and looked pleased that he had found someone to blame who couldn't slap him the second Teague left the room.

"Barbosssa's?" Teague repeated. Jack nodded.

"Yup, he's the Chartman, that's what they call him," he looked sideways at me during Teague's disbelieving silence. "Isn't it, Belle?"

I narrowed my eyes, "No."

That would teach him to blame things on me. He narrowed his eyes righ back at me, which for some infuriating reason made me want to laugh.

Teague snapped his fingers to draw Jack's attention back to him. "Why would you care so much about something of Barbossa's?"

He'd got him there. "Alright..." he said slowly. "They _used _to be Barbossa's."

"And now they're yours," he said it more as a statement than a question, but Jack still felt the need to make a contradictory noise of protest. Teague cut across him before he could launch into a farfetched story in an attempt to get himself off the hook. "Are you planning on using them or not, lad?"

Jack made a series of highly ambigious noises ranging from "umm" to "well, you see..." before finally sighing and settling on, "Yes, yes I am."

We both watched for Teague's reaction. I think a part of me was waiting for his head to actually explode. He stayed still for a very long time. Jack looked nervous. Teague turned to me and I almost wet myself with fear. His tone was chillingly polite, "Isabel, would you mind waiting outside while I have a... word with Jack-y?"

I think a head-explosion would have scared me less. "Umm..." I said, moving slowly towards the door, but somehow scared to get too close to Teague and his scarily nice smile. I approached him slowly, feeling the need to keep my eyes on him in case he snapped. The second I had past him I scurried out of the door and felt a breeze Teague slammed it behind me. The movement of the slam vibrated slight along the deck beneath my feet. "Nice knowing you Jack," I whispered as all hell broke loose behind the door.

They argued for hours. There were brief moments of silence before the indistinct shouting started up again, muffled but not silenced by the walls of the cabin. I helped the crew get ready to set sail, although there was a definite air of uncertainty among all those on deck as to the future of the _Pearl _and her Captain. Once when I walked back from the galley to load more supplies on I caught Pintel and Ragetti using a glass to hear what was going on.

"What's happening?" I whispered to Pintel. He jumped slightly through the shock of me being there. He shrugged.

"Sorry, Isabel," he said sincerely. "It doesn't look good for our Captain. We think he might kill him."

Ragetti nodded in agreement, "I've heard the him say 'carve out your fig' at least seven times in the past minute."

"Are you sure?" Pintel asked. "I could have sworn he said 'starve on our brig'."

"No!" Ragetti rolled his eyes. "Why would he say that? We're not on his ship!"

"Well he aint gonna say 'carve out your fig', is he? What's a vegetable got to do with anything?" Pintel glared at his friend.

"A fig aint a vegtable!"

"Yes it is!"

"Not it aint!"

"Well what is it then?" Pintel snapped.

"It's..." Ragetti paused, "That thing in your insides what's all pink."

"Most things on your insides are all pink! It's a vegetable!"

"Not it aint!" Ragetti turned to me. "Tell him, Isabel. Is a fig a vegetable?"

"No." I shook my head. Ragetti looked triumphant... for a second. "It's a fruit."

"Ha!" Pintel was pleased with Ragetti's misfortune. Ragetti, however, was not.

"Shut up! You didn't know either!"

"Sssh! Both of you!" I hissed. "I'm trying to listen."

"But we don't know which he said!" Ragetti protested.

"I think we can safely assume it was nothing to do with figs," I snapped. They both shut it and the three of us leaned in to press our ears to the wall. It was difficult to hear anything, but I could hear Jack's voice which was a very good sign that he was still alive. Things got a little quieter and we had to strain to hear anything.

"Well, well." The voice in my ear was so loud I almost screamed. My heart beat a thousand times in a second that seemed to last a year until I saw that it was only Gibbs. "That's usually just you and Jack having an argument in there. Or you and Will. Or you and Elizabeth. Or you and-"

"Thank you, Gibbs, I get your point!" I said loudly. He grinned and I smiled back at him. "Where have you been?"

"Oh," he shrugged. "Here and there."

"Are you back to join us?" I asked. "If Jack lives I mean."

"Aye," he nodded. "I may as well. I've missed the _Pearl_, she's a fine ship an' hard to be away from once you've gotten to know her."

"You're telling me!" I smiled in agreement. Together Pintel, Ragetti and I filled Gibbs in on everything he'd missed since he had been away and the current agrument going on behind the door of the Captain's Cabin. Gibbs didn't look too happy about the prospect of the Fountain of Youth.

"Aye, Teague's right to be talk-, er... shouting him out of it. It's a dangerous thing that and there's not all that much known about it."

This made me feel uneasy. "I knew it. I knew there was always too high a price to pay for immortality."I muttered just as the blazing row behind us went deadly silent. We waited for it to start up again, but the silence stretched on longer than it ever had before. We waited. Nothing happened for a long time and all aboard the _Pearl_ was silent.

"Maybe he killed him," Ragetti said eventually when the silence was too much to bear.

"Which one do you recon did the killing?" Pintel whispered. "I recon it was Teague cause he's old. Knows how to kill a man more than Jack does."

"Yeah, but he's too old," Ragetti reasoned. "Might not have it in him."

"Ah, but..." Pintel stopped as the door we were all staring at opened. Teague stepped out and Pintel, Ragetti and Gibbs scattered. I was left standing on my own. Teague straightened out his hat and brushed a mark off his jacket. He looked at me and smiled.

"Hello, Isabel," he said pleasantly.

"Er... hello," I replied, noticing that he didn't have the Charts with him. He walked past me, still smiling. I walked over to the cabin suddenly very alarmed about the safety of my husband.

"Isabel!" Teague called. I stopped and turned to him, my hand on the handle. "Don't go in there for a while."

He nodded to the room where he'd left his son. "Why not?" I asked.

Before Teague descended the gangplank to boar his own ship he smiled again and said, quite simply, "He's staying in there until he's thought about what he's done."

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**Review? Ta very muchly :)**

**LV  
XX  
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	21. A Vote

**I PASSED ALL MY EXAMS! SOOOO HAPPY! :D**

**Love you!  
LV  
XX  
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"I hear you're thinking about what you've done," I said as I opened the door. He looked at me like he was about to throw something at my head.

He was in a sulk.

A _big _one. He was moody, sullen and swearing- the works. Took me ages to calm him down. I wasn't even sure what he was saying half the time, but between the mumbling and the swear words I got the gist of it. He wasn't going to do what Teague told him, basically (well... with a few more colourful words in between). I knew that I should trust Jack, with him being my husband and all, but Teague's unhappiness about the Fountain made me uneasy. Jack was in no mood to be questioned and I knew that if I wanted to stay on his good side I would have to use suggestion rather than confrontation.

"Maybe," I said when he had been silent fo some time. He looked up. "Maybe you _should_ think about what Teague said."

"No." I could see that he was about to go ballistic at me, so I raised my hand to stop him talking.

"Well then," I said loudly as he tried to swear over me. "Maybe you should ask the crew what they think."

He stopped then and looked at me for a second with his mouth hanging open. He clearly hadn't been expecting that suggestion. "Ask the crew?" he repeated. I nodded.

"Yes, put it to a vote," they deserve to know what they're getting themselves into and have their say in it. Then if it they decide they do want to go, it wont just have been up to you and you're father can't really blame you."

"That's _genius_," he brightened immediately. I knew he'd love a plan that meant he could successfully blame other people and got him exactly what he wanted. I confess, I had an ulterior motive to getting him to ask the crew. There was one person's reaction I was looking for before I made my own decision about it. Jack was looking so much happier I knew Teague would be cross. "Lets do it now!"

"Or we could wait until you're dad's not here," I suggested.

"Until he knows what I've decided to do he'll always be here," Jack said gloomily. "It's now or when he's driven us both mad."

Without waiting for me to say anything else he stood up and grabbed the Charts, which were looking a bit worse for ware and strode out onto the deck. I followed him and then tried to hide behind him as I saw Teague, so he wouldn't see that I'd been in there influencing Jack's thoughts about what he'd done. He saw me, but by the time he did I just looked like I was a bit crazy because we were far enough away from the cabin for me to have joined Jack from anywhere. He gave me a strange look and then glowered at Jack. I stood up like a normal person as Jack smiled at Teague.

"Been thinking, lad?" Teague sounded threatening.

"Oh, yes. We're putting it to a vote," Jack breezed past him and walked quickly up to the upper deck, shouting for the crew's attention. They all stopped what they were doing and looked up at him. Teague looked at me accusingly. I shrugged. Jack addressed his crew and held the Charts high above his head. "Gentlemen. I have here the Charts to the Fountain of Youth, as some of you may or may not know from the old Captain Scallywag. I propose to use them and reach said Fountain for immortality, savvy?"

The crew cheered and I scanned the crowd for Gibbs. He was not one of the ones cheereing. My heart sank. Gibbs, who knows all the ledgends, all the stories and myths of the sea was looking positively petrified at the thought of the Fountain of Youth.

"So what do ye think, gents?" Jack asked them. "Are ye with me?"

Another cheer rose up and Jack smiled. He nodded to them all and then at his father. I looked at Teague, who was looking angry, but defeated. "I knew he'd find a way round it," he muttered more to himself than me. I tried not to look guilty. He turned to me. "You and Jack are still coming back with me, aren't you?"

I nodded. It was the least Jack and I could do. "Of course, I'll make sure we do."

"I'm planning on staying there for a while, I'm getting a bit old to be off pirating all the time, lass. Tell Jack I'm leaving someone in charge of my ship for a while and I'm coming with you two on the _Pearl._" he said and then walked away without waiting for my reply. Just like his bloody son, never finishing a conversation!

"Erm... okay then..." I said to his back. Jack was deep in a discussion with Gibbs. Gibbs was still not looking happy, but Jack was now that he'd got his way. I walked over to them. The conversation stopped and I got the feeling they didn't want me to hear it.

"Everything alright?" I asked, directing my question at Gibbs rather than Jack.

"Of course!" Jack smiled, putting an arm around me. I didn't miss his meaningful look at Gibbs. "Isn't it, Gibbs?"

"Aye," he nodded, but still looked a little unhappy. "Aye, everythin's going well."

If he wasn't going to let on what was bothering him about the Fountain with Jack around I'd just have to find another way of deciding if it was worth the risks. "Will you be coming with us to the Fountain of Youth, Gibbs?"

He hesitated for a moment. "Aye... Aye, I will be."

I relaxed and the knot my stomach had tied itself into loosened. If he thought it was too dangerous then he wouldn't have agreed to come. It couldn't be that bad... could it? "Alright then," I said, studying his expression. He smiled. I nodded and turned away from them both. "Oh, and Jack?" I looked at him.

"Yes, love?"

"We're still going back with you're dad first, aren't we?"

"Yes, I suppose we have to. Why?"

"Oh," I said innocently. "You're father will be travelling back with us, that's all."

"**WHAT?**"

_'Ha, you're not the only one who can walk away during a conversation!'_

_

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_**Review please!**_  
_


	22. The Journey to Teague's

It was to take about three weeks to get to Teague's. After one day I wasn't sure if I would be able to handle it. Having Teague on the _Pearl _seemed to put a massive strain on he and Jack's already very stretched relationship. I don't think Teague could help what he was doing, but I could see why Jack was quickly reaching the end of his tether. Having been used to being Captain of his own ship and also being Jack's father meant that Teague often tried to take over. It seemed to be an unwritten rule that he was not to take orders from Jack, as he was not technically part of the crew so we were to treat him more as a guest. Teague, however, did not really take this view. It was in his nature, as it was in Jack's, to Captain a ship and not take orders or sit idly by while others were in charge. Unfortunately for Jack this meant that every move he made and every order he gave out to his crew, Teague was behind him every step of the way altering everything slightly to suit his own Captaining style. Every little thing Jack did was closely monitored, criticized and then tweaked by Teague.

Jack became increasingly irritable and the conversations between he and Teague just got shorter and shorter. They didn't argue, so to speak, they both just snipped at each other... all day, every day for near on three weeks. It started to grate on my nerves and I think it also started to rub off on me too, because I often felt myself getting grumpy for no real reason. The last week of the journey was a nightmare for everyone on board. I put it down to living in such tense conditions for so long. The poor crew. It was with some relief we came in sight of our final destination.

"Almost there!" Pintle sounded happy, which annoyed me.

"Yes, I can see that!" I snapped. He blinked at me, a little shocked. I was a bit taken a back myself. "I'm sorry," I said quietly, "I don't know where that came from..."

"Alright," he looked a bit confused and wandered off before I could say anything else. I wiped my eyes and my hand came away wet. What the bloody hell was I crying about? It was at the moment that thought entered my mind that the ship lurched sideways and my stomach swirled with it. I felt really, really sick.

"Alright, Belle?" Jack asked as I tried to keep my food down. I looked at him. "Oh, bugger! You've gone all green, love. Are you feeling alright?"

"Alright?" I repeated and he flinched as my voice rose several pitches. "Does someone who's 'gone all green' generally feel alright?"

"Well... no, but..."

"I feel **crap!**" I shouted. "Absolute crap and it's all you're fault!"

"_My _fault?" he repeated. "How?"

I glowered at him, but I never got the chance to formulate any words or figure out for myself why I was quite so angry with him before food rose in my throat and I lunged for the railing, only just making it. It was a horrible few seconds that made me a bit shaky, but I felt instantly better. Jack's hand rested between my shoulder blades as I came back up. "Oh dear," he said. "I think you've been eating the same food as Gibbs, love. Can't remember what he said it was, but he's been sick too."

"Oh, yeah," I said. "We shared some of those oranges the other day, they did taste a bit sour."

"You feeling alright now?" he asked. I smiled.

"Much better," I nodded. "Sorry I blamed you I just..."

"It's alright, love," he smiled.

"Land ho!" Teague said very loudly and just as Jack was about to kiss me.

"I know that," Jack did nothing to hide the annoyance in his voice.

"Yes, but you haven't announced it."

"Why would I need to do that?"

"So the crew know."

"But they already know it, because they can see it, so my announcing it would be completely pointless," Jack looked irritated and was nearing the end of his fuse.

"I always tell _my _crew," Teague was calm enough because he thought he was right.

"Well _my _crew aren't complete idiots," Jack muttered.

"What was that, lad?"

"_Nothing!_" Jack's teeth ground together. Land couldn't come quick enough.

It's always a bizarre feeling stepping onto land after weeks and weeks at sea. It gets easier and you get used to it after a while, but it still sometimes hits you unexpectedly. I felt a bit dizzy and it was kind if hard to walk. The world felt more solid when I was at sea than it did when I stepped on land it swayed around and dipped like it was caught in a wave. I closed my eyes, still feeling the motion. I heard Jack laugh and really wanted to punch him, but I couldn't because he was the one with the supportive hand on my back to stop me falling.

When things felt a bit more normal I opened my eyes. Jack looked at me and smiled, putting his arm properly around my shoulders. Teague appeared very suddenly beside Jack. "You ready for this, lad?"

"'Course," Jack was looking relaxed, safe in the knowledge that now he wouldn't have to put up with having his father on his ship anymore. "Can't be that difficult, can it?"

"Well, I just thought things might be difficult since you haven't seen everyone in a while."

I looked at Jack who had paled. "Everyone?" he repeated. "As in...?"

"As in your siblings, Jack-y." Teague smiled.

Jack did not.

"I did _not _sign up for this..." Jack muttered.

"They can't be that bad!" I said.

"_You _haven't met them!"

"Yeah, well you're talking someone who spend most of her life as James Norrington's sister." He laughed at that, but only for a second.

"Seriously, Belle, not met them... but I think it starts now."

I suddenly felt really nervous and looked to where Jack was grimacing at a figure walking up the jetty towards us. "Who's he?" I asked as Teague walked a head to meet him first.

"Brother," Jack said shortly. "Hugh."

"He's very... handsome," I said absent-mindedly squinting at Hugh, forgetting for a second it was Jack, my husband, I was talking to and I wasn't having a gossip with Elizabeth, who perhaps would have appreciated my comment more than Jack seemed to. Before I could correct myself Teague was beckoning us over. Hugh smiled. Jack did not.

"Jack," Hugh said, sounding pleased... sort of. He looked at me, "And who might you be?"

"Isabel," I smiled and he grinned back. There was something very... Jack about his grin. The same amount of mischief. He stuck out his hand. I took it and he bent to kiss it.

"Hugh," he said. I almost said 'I know', but I didn't because that would have been a bit odd, so instead I just smiled and nodded. Jack shifted slightly closer to me as Hugh let go of my hand, but had to take his arm away from my shoulder as Teague handed him one of the crates he had brought back with him. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

'_Wow, he's so much more polite than his brother!'_

"You too."

Jack coughed. Hugh pretended not to have noticed, "Would you like me to show you round the island, darlin'? Give you a tour?"

He had slipped an arm around my shoulder when Jack had taken his off and had started to lead me away from him and Teague. Before I could say a word there was a loud "Oi!" from Jack. Hugh turned.

"What's the problem, Jack-y?" he raised an eyebrow. "Feeling threatened?"

"No."

"Good, it's not like you have a chance anyway."

"She's my wife, actually."

I smiled because it made me unbelievably happy to hear him call me his wife out loud. Hugh started laughing. He stopped when he saw the look on Jack's face, "Oh. You're being _serious?_" He stared at me. "You're _married? _To _him_? Why don't you just come with me, honey, I can show you a better time than he can."

He winked, I blushed. Jack put down his crete. "That's my _wife _you're hitting on."

Hugh removed his arm from around my shoulders and looked at me, "So, he's your..."

"He's my husband."

"Meh... For just now. We'll just have to see where this week goes," Hugh winked at me again before he walked off. I pretended to be shocked, but secretly I was little pleased.

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	23. The Sparrow's Nest

**Hey!**

**Is everyone ready to start meeting Jack's family? Good cause you don't really have a choice! :P**

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It was a small little island, ruled more by nature than people. There were several houses there, several families. The whole island was alive with colour. There were millions of shades of green in every plant and flowers in every shade of every colour imaginable. The wooden jetty was probably the only man-made structure there that didn't have something growing on it, in it or round it. The houses all had some kind of plant climbing the walls or growing so much in front of them that most of it was blocked from view. It was like nature was letting them stay there, unlike in some places like London and Port Royal where it was like we were letting a bit of nature stay where it wasn't in the way. I think I liked it better the island way.

"Not many people live here all year round," Teague said as we walked along the dirt track that had been troden into the grass, our arms full of supplies. "Most people here are at sea, they just use this as a place to come back to from time to time, or bring children, should they have any. But most of the time we're all at sea. Only those that are dead or dying stay behind."

It was on that note that we turned off the path and through a gap between a small, spiky plant and a taller one with long, thin leaves that stuck up into the air, curled down at the very edges and ended in a cluster of tiny purple flowers. The house was almost completely hidden by the branches of an enormous overhanging tree. It was hard to decide if the house had been built before the tree had been planted or after because they seemed to be becoming one and the same. I think the house was being held together and supported mostly by the branches and roots of the tree, but it looked as if the tree would fall if you somehow managed to extract the house from its grip. Separately, both would have crumbled, but they were holding each other up nicely. I could hear the sound of laughter and music coming from inside. The tall grass brushed against my knees as I followed Teague up the path that had been created by the many people who had walked here before us. He stopped and I almost crashed into him. I looked around for the door. If I had seen one I probably would have been a bit more ready for his stopping. The crate I was carrying slipped a bit in my arms and I had a moment of panic as I tried to regain control. An apple slipped out and rolled along the ground. I shifted the crate trying to balance it on my knee so I could pick it up again. Hugh stooped to get it and put it back on top with a wink. "There you go, honey."

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Pleasure to help," he said as Jack snorted in the background. I looked at him.

"It would be nice if Jack were as helpful as you," I said and enjoyed the look on Jack's face. Winding him up was something I would never tire of. I turned back to look at Teague, still grinning. Teague lifted up a curtain of ivy and I caught sight of wood underneath. He leant his shoulder against it and pushed. It scraped and juddered its way forwards. "Door's a bit stiff," he said to me.

"**GRANDAD!" **The shriek came before Teague even had a chance to step foot in the door. There was the sound of feet running along a wooden floor. Teague stepped in as quickly as possible and I heard him laugh.

"Hang on you two and wait 'til I've got me-self sorted."

"Who's had kids?" I heard Jack ask. He didn't sound all that pleased.

"Kate," Hugh answered. "They're adorable. Do you not like kids, Jack?"

"Well, I-" Jack stopped. "Wait, I see what you're doing... I'm not answering that."

"What?" Hugh asked innocently. "I was just wondering, I mean... _marriage..._kids-"

"Shut it," Jack mumbled.

"Yes," I turned to Hugh. "Please do."

Hugh was silent for a second. "Can't say I blame her for not wanting _your _kids Jack," he glanced at me and smiled, "but you know, honey, of you ever feel like you need to-"

Jack put down his crete. "If you don't stop talking _right now _I'll-"

"**UNCLE HUGH!**" Jack's threat was cut short as two small children came tearing out of the house. Hugh laughed, put down what he was carrying and picked up the youngest, a boy.

"Hello again, have you met your Uncle Jack? Look, here he is."

"Hat!" the boy pointed at Jack's tricorn hat.

"Yes, that's right," Hugh nodded. "He would love it if you tried it on."

"No I wouldn't," Jack stepped back, but Hugh had already lifted the boy close enough for him to snatch it off with his tiny hands. He held it for a moment and looked at it before biting the rim. "OI!" Jack shouted. "NO! Don't do that put it down!"

Jack lunged to take the hat from the boy, but Hugh swung him round so that Jack stumbled straight past them. The boy squealed with delight. As Jack was righting himself Hugh put the boy down and the hat on his head. It fell down over the boy's eyes, but he loved it. He ran into the grass with it wobbling around on his head. The grass was so tall and he was so small that soon the hat was all you could see. Hugh chased him and Jack chased Hugh. I felt a tug on my hand. I looked down to see the girl looking up at me. She had the same dark hair as the boy, who I presumed was her brother, but her eyes were blue.

"Will you play with me?" she asked.

"Of course," I smiled. Her small hand tugged on mine again as she lead me away from the others.

"No boys allowed," she said and I laughed.

"A very sensible rule."

She took me to her 'den', a surprisingly big space under a tree. The leaves canopeyed out and cascaded to the ground around us. We sat on a log she had placed in the centre and she made us both some 'rum' out of mud and leaves, which she put into two chipped mugs and we both pretended to drink. "My name's Jenny."

"Mine's Isabel."

She studied me and I took another pretend sip. "Have I met you before?" I shook my head. She took another sip. "I thought not, but sometimes I've met people before when I was really little but I just can't remember them."

"You've never met your Uncle Jack before, have you?"

"The one with the hat?" I nodded and she shook her head. "No, I don't think so."

"Jenifer!" a woman's voice floated in from outside the den. "Jen? Jenny?"

The curtain of leaves lifted and a woman's head appeared in the gap. She smiled at her daughter. "There you are, I was just-" she saw me. "Oh, I see you've already met our guests."

Jenifer nodded. "Yes, she's called Isabel."

I smiled awkwardly at the woman who had Jack's eyes. She smiled back, "I'm Kate."

"Lovely to meet you."

"Coming in for a drink?"

"I already made her one!" said an indignant Jenny. Her mother laughed. "Well something to eat with it then."

"Can I get something to eat too?"

"Yes, Come on then!" Kate half sighed, half laughed. Jenny threw down her mug and ran out. I stood up and followed them. She ran a head of Kate and I as we made our way back to the house.

"She's a lovely kid," I said, watching her run. "And your boy, he's great too."

She smiled lovingly after her daughter. "They can be a pain sometimes, but I love having them here. I was never very into the whole pirating thing to be honest. I much prefer life here with a family."

I was surprised by this, but I didn't say so. Instead I asked, "So do you live here all year round then?"

"No," she shook her head. "We travel a lot, me and my husband, Gregor. Pirate's still in my blood, it's just a bit diluted."

We had reached the door. There was no sign of Jack or Hugh outside and all the supplies had been taken in. Kate opened the door and I followed her through.

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	24. A Family of Sparrows

**Heloooooooooo! Sorry it's been a while. School's back :( 5th year... not fun.**

**Anyway, a looooong chapter to make up for it and I have some exciting stuff planned for you! I'll say no more ;)**

**LOVE YOU  
XX  
**

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I was right about the tree holding the house up. Long, thin branches grew along the walls and thicker ones ran along the ceiling, keeping it from falling apart. There were parts in the floor where the boards had split and parts of roots had pushed their way through and turned back down again. You hardly noticed them though, it felt like it was completely natural that they were there and the house would have looked odd without them. Not that it was, by any means, a normal house, but I'd have been a fool to expect it to be. It looked like the place where everything that's ever been lost by anyone comes to say. Things from all the corners of the world had collected and found a home in the strange, jumbled house. A number of instruments had found themselves in among the collection, a mix of sounds from all over the world were being plucked, or blown or pressed by the people surrounding the chair in the middle where Teague sat with his guitar. Nobody was playing a particular tune, but the sounds mixed well together with their absentminded plucking. It was a sound of accidental loveliness. Several conversations were going on in the room; I wasn't sure where to look first.

I spotted Jack in the corner, perhaps the only one not smiling. He was looking extremely annoyed, but he had his hat back. He'd placed it firmly back down on his bandanna, lower than usual. I looked for the small boy and soon found the reason for Jack's annoyance. His nephew was running around him in tight circles screaming something uncomprehend able at the top of his lungs while Hugh egged him on. I laughed and Jack narrowed his eyes to glare at me, his arms folded and expression sulky. I pulled a face at him and his lips twitched as he fought a smile.

"Isabel!" Jenifer tugged on my arm. I looked down at her- my niece, as I suppose she was. She tucked some of her wild brown hair behind her ears. "Come and meet my daddy."

Gregor and Kate were very much in love with each other and their children. The adoration in their eyes when they looked at either child showed it all. Gregor always looked awkward when I saw him without Kate. It was probably because he had quite an awkward build. He was extremely tall and gangling with long, thin limbs. He looked like he had been stretched. He didn't really fit anywhere properly and things looked just that little bit too small when he held them. The only thing that looked right near him was Kate. In spite of the fact that he was a head or two taller than her, they just seemed to fit together. You only had to take one look to see that Gregor, who looked awkward holding a fork, was meant to be with Kate.

He stuck out a bit from Jack and his family though, the tallest of them being Hugh. I was careful not to mention it to Jack, but I quite liked Hugh. He was charming and cheeky and wound Jack up no end, which was probably why I liked him to be honest. It was clear that he and Jack were never going to get on completely. I think they were too similar to be friends. I could imagine both of them vying for Teague's attention when they were younger. Hugh was the oldest, which was something I imagine Jack held against him and probably still does. He was also taller than Jack, something that blatantly annoyed him because whenever they were standing near each other Jack stood up impossibly straight, but in spite of his stretching he couldn't quite reach Hugh's tall, lean figure.

Jack's fierce sister, Anne, was the youngest. She and Kate looked very similar. They had the same light brown wavy hair and the shape of their faces was very similar. They were both quite short and of the same slim build, but couldn't have been more different. Kate was friendly and approachable, but Anne? Not so much. She stayed a little apart from the rest of us, clutching her sword and looking sullenly in the direction of the sea. I got the impression she didn't much like me, or anyone else for that matter. Kate kindly explained in hushed tones that it was Jack she had a problem with more than me. She'd never really forgiven Jack for leaving them. Not that Jack was really looking for forgiveness from any of them.

Between Kate and Anne there were twins- Roderick and John. Roderick was the most cheerful man I had ever met in my life. He could find the silver lining in hurricane season. His smile divided up his large round face and instantly made the room seem a lot brighter. The twinkle in his eyes seemed permanently fixed there and it automatically made me feel happy about… well, about everything really. In direct contrast was his brother John. While Rod looked forward to the good things in life, John seemed to prepare for the worst and assume that it was going to happen. There were no features in his face that suggested his expression had ever changed from his glum frown. He didn't speak often and when he did it was to contradict his brother's hopefulness or to comment on how something was about to take a turn for the worst.

Bartholomew was just as quiet as Rod, but for different reasons. Rod maintained an air of deep thought, while Bart seemed to go by the philosophy that people should only speak when they absolutely had to. For example if they were being spoken to and asked a direct question… or if they were on fire and needed help.

Dinner was an interesting affair. We all swapped seats at least ten times before we were settled because Jen and her brother, Adam had a huge fuss over who they wanted to sit near and Anne almost walked out when she had to sit next to Jack. Eventually, we were all sorted and an awkward silence descended on the table. Anne laid her gun down so it was only a few inches from her fingertips and narrowed her eyes at Jack.

"Anne, no guns at the table," said Teague in warning tones. She sighed and sat stubbornly for a moment.

"I might need it," she said through gritted teeth. Her freckled nose wrinkled slightly as she glared across the table. I looked at Jack. He said nothing, but stared back at her.

"Anne…" he said again and she rolled her eyes. Reluctantly, she flipped her pistol off the table and slouched right down in her chair. Jack looked smug and Anne looked away from him, disgusted. For a whiled there was nothing but the sound of eating.

"What a lovely evening it's going to be," Rod smiled like there was nothing wrong or awkward at all. John's thick black eyebrows knotted together.

"It'll never last," he muttered darkly and his dark brown, almost black eyes looked out of the window for the thunder clouds he was expecting to see. A collective sigh passed around the table like a breeze, but Rod appeared not to notice.

"So, Jack," Hugh was sitting on my right and looked over my head at Jack who was on my left. Looking back on it, it probably wasn't the best seating arrangement in the world. "Got a ship of your own yet?"

His tone was lighthearted, but Jack stiffened beside me and this time it was Anne who looked smug. "Yes," he said tersely.

"Really? Cause last I heard you were chasing the _Pearl_…" he said innocently. "… and rather unsuccessfully at that," he added under his breath.

"Well we got it back, didn't we lad?" Teague smiled and I thought he looked genuinely proud of his son. Everything in Jack's face closed and his expression became steely and hard to read. He nodded once.

"Ah, so dad helped you?" There was something very patronizing about Hugh's tone.

"Yes."

"Course he did."

There was a silence. Everyone stopped eating except Jenifer and Adam who hadn't noticed that there was something going on. Jack put down his fork and looked at the table. He clenched his fists and his knuckles went white. Desperately, I tried to think of something to change the subject.

"You know, we were once-"

"What do you mean by that?" Jack cut across me. I shut my mouth and sat back in my chair. Clearly, we weren't done yet. Hugh shrugged.

"Nothing," he said, but his sugary sweet tone clearly indicated that he meant 'something'.

"Go on?" Jack pressed.

"It's just a little convenient that the only time you've been home in years is because you wanted something in return." Without pausing for breath he turned to me and smiled a brilliant smile. "Isabel, honey, can you pass me the salt? Thanks, darling."

I reached for it, feeling my cheeks burning and Jack's eyes boring into me. I picked it up. "Don't," Jack said before I could pass it to Hugh. I stopped and looked at him. What the hell did he expect me to do? As I hesitated Hugh very gently took hold of my wrist and with his other hand pulled the bowl of salt out my hand. I looked at him and he moved his hand down from my wrist to take it properly. He smiled and kissed the top of it. I begged him not to with my eyes, but his smile only widened. Jack's chair scrapped against the floor as he stood up. He stood for a moment. I had to tug my hand free and felt guilty even though I hadn't technically done anything wrong.

"Sorry, Jack," Hugh smiled. "Did you want the salt?"

Jack left and another silence descended. Everyone apart from the children and Hugh looked at me. "I should… I should…" I rose and pushed my chair in. A silence had never been so awkward. I gestured to my plate. "Thanks for the….it was…. Thanks."

I followed Jack out without completing a sentence. The door shut behind me and I found myself praying we wouldn't be here for long. I could see Jack in the hallway ahead of me. I called for him and he stopped, but didn't turn.

"You don't need to follow me, Isabel," he sounded cold.

"I was just- "

"You're following me like a dog."

It hurt, but I made circumstantial allowances. "I wanted to make sure you were-"

"I was alright on my own for years before you came along and I'd be fine…" he stopped. He stopped too late.

"Go on." I narrowed my eyes as he turned. "Go on, say it."

"No," he shook his head. "Belle I'm-"

"Say it!" I said loudly. Silence. "You'd be fine without me, that's what you were going to say, wasn't it?"

"No."

"Don't lie. Admit it." I folded my arms.

"I didn't mean it. I was going to say it, love, but I don't mean it… I'm sorry."

"Fine," I said curtly. He hesitantly stepped towards me. When he bent to kiss me I turned my face so he only caught my cheek. He sighed.

"I love you," he said.

"Yeah," I replied and turned away from him. We'd see how alright he was without me in a few hours.

I spent a long time avoiding Jack that night and subsequently spent a lot of time with Hugh. I was doing it all to spite him. To show him that I was an ally he couldn't afford to lose. Not here. I liked Hugh because he cheered me up. A lot. But only because he was so much like Jack in many ways.

When the time came for us to start retiring to bed I let Jack crawl into the bed Teague had designated for us on his own and I stayed out with Hugh. My plan was to wait until I was sure that he'd be asleep when I went in,_ if_ I went in.

I went to sleep feeling awful and woke up with a secret.

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	25. Closure

**My my, I've certainly got you guessing ;)**

**LV  
XX  
**

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It was getting light and had been for some time. I crept over to the bed where Jack lay sleeping. He was turned towards the side he'd left empty for me. I slipped in between the sheets. Jack stirred but did not wake. In his sleep he looked troubled. I looked at him and began to cry, unable to hold back the barrage of tears. I touched his cheek and whispered before turning my back to him. Looking at him was too painful for me to bear. I cried harder than ever as the words I had whispered to him sunk in, "Jack… It's not been as long as I'd have liked. I wanted forever, but you can't always get what you want, can you? I think we may be coming to an end. I love you and I'm sorry."

I closed my eyes, but it didn't stop the tears. In the room next door I heard Hugh climb back into his bed and even though Jack was asleep and oblivious to me I felt the need to whisper my apology once more, just so he knew how sorry I truly was.

I didn't sleep again after returning to bed. I watched the room get lighter and lighter through my tears and tried to think of what to do next. How to act, what to say and when to say it. I curled up under the blankets in an attempt to comfort myself, but there was no escaping the blanket of pain, fear and self-pity I had wrapped around myself. Eventually I cried myself out and just lay in the growing light feeling numb to my core and hoping that time would just stop. Or go backwards, I'd like that. I stared into oblivion feeling the hours tick by until Jack's warm arm wrapped around me. The second I felt it, I shut my eyes. I wanted him to think I was asleep. He pulled himself closer, so that he could lie with me without waking me up. His warm body pressed against mine and his familiar scent that gently enveloped me almost set me off again. I almost whispered another apology.

We lay like this for some time. I concentrated on my breathing, making it even and deep like it would be if I were really asleep. He let me "sleep" for ages and then after a while I felt his lips on my right temple. He gently kissed his way down the side of my face, something that usually woke me up quite pleasantly, but today I pretended to sleep through it even when he reached my neck. It was only when he softly called for me did I pretend to stir, deciding that I could put off the inevitable no longer. I wondered how I could possibly face him, but when the sickening dread inside me rose like a wave and I opened my eyes it became very easy to lie. Even though my heart was breaking inside I smiled like nothing was wrong. Our eyes met and my mask was on.

"Sorry, love," he said, reminding me that we had even fallen out in the first place. And there it was, the perfect way to disguise myself. Hide how I felt and buy me more time. I pulled away from him and stood up. I did my best to ignore the blood rushing around my head and clouding my vision, letting me know I'd stood up far too fast. My head was aching from lack of sleep, but I still focused on putting one foot in front of the other and maintaining a haughty silence. I opened the door and stepped straight into Hugh.

"Oh," he said after a long silence.

"Yeah," I chewed on my lip. "I'm just…."

"Yeah, I'm…." he indicated to his left. I nodded and stepped round him. I walked quickly away even though I had no idea where I was going. I didn't look back at him to see if he was watching me, even though I really wanted to.

"Belle?"

Shit, he'd found me. I looked up and said nothing. He sighed. "I'm sorry…" I looked back down at the table. "I don't know what else to say."

My stomach twisted itself into even tighter knots. I smiled over the tears threatening to make an appearance. I saw the relief in his face and stood to hug him. "It's alright," I said, even though what I desperately needed was for him to say those words to me. For a split second everything was almost normal again, but then I saw Hugh over Jack's shoulder. He was leaning against the doorframe, just watching. I froze. He held my gaze for a moment, raised his eyebrows and turned to leave. I closed my eyes and tried to recapture that almost normal moment, but it was long gone.

"Jack," Hugh's voice made me jump. My eyes snapped open and I stared at him, silently praying what he was about to say to Jack had nothing whatsoever to do with me. Jack stiffened and turned to his brother. Behind his back, I shook my head at Hugh and prayed he understood. Hugh indicated behind him. "Dad wants you."

"Right," Jack muttered and walked out, storming past Hugh. I hoped Hugh would leave too, but he didn't. I even looked away from him so that there was no awkward eye contact and he didn't feel like he had to start a conversation. It didn't really work out the way I had planned. Nothing ever worked out the way _I _had planned.

"You have to tell him," he said quietly. I looked up. My stomach twisted sharply. I nodded.

"I know."

"He'd find out sooner or later."

"I _know" _I repeated. Hugh opened his mouth again, but I cut across him. "I just don't want to tell him yet."

"I'm serious, if you don't tell him, I will."

"Not yet!"

"Why not?"

I sighed, "You _know _how he'll react, Hugh!"

He softened. "Yeah… yeah, I do." There was a silence. "So, what now?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Pretend everything's normal."

He nodded and stepped into the kitchen to stand beside me. He put a comforting arm around my shoulder. "It's alright," he said.

"No, it isn't."

"No," he agreed. "But it will be."

I smiled, but neither agreed nor disagreed with him. Footsteps echoed outside the door and I leapt away from him. Jack's head popped round the door seconds later. He did not look happy. He looked at Hugh, then me. "Time to go," he announced. Hugh sprang forward.

"Finally," he muttered.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To scatter the old bitch," Jack's nose wrinkled.

"Do you mean our Grandmother, Jack?" Hugh was a tad icy. Jack did not react. "You don't have to be here you know."

"Dad wants me here."

"If he didn't we could have done this weeks ago, rather than waiting for you."

"Sorry about that," I said in order to cover Jack's undoubtedly ruder comeback.

"That's alright, honey. _You _were worth the wait," Hugh winked at me. I froze up and opened and closed my mouth like a fish. Jack exhaled sharply. Hugh was still grinning, then he looked at Jack. "Oh, relax! It's just harmless flirting, Jack… no need to worry… unless you think you have a reason to be worried?"

"No," Jack said coldly and came to pull me away from Hugh. His arms went protectively full-circle around me and he kissed my forehead. I widened my eyes at Hugh as he did so.

'What are you doing?' I mouthed, 'Acting normal' was the reply and I relaxed. I smiled and looked up at Jack. He kissed me and everything felt right. Then Hugh interrupted.

"Er… hello? We do have somewhere to be, you know!"

Jack and I broke apart in time to catch Hugh rolling his eyes. I laughed. Jack didn't. We followed him out to where the rest of the family were gathered outside.

I felt like an intruder. I wanted to be there for Jack, but this was a family funeral and I was an outsider. I didn't really have a place in this private affair. We walked for about half an hour until we reached the top of a cliff where wild grass grew right to the edge. Teague announced it was the highest point on the island. It looked right out onto an expanse of turquoise ocean. Anne brought forth an urn and, crying, she took a handful of ash right to the very edge of the cliff. She slowly unclenched her fist and the grains of ash escaped and were snatched away by the wind. The she broke down.

It was strange to see how each family member reacted to it. Anne was in tears. Bart stayed as strong and silent as ever, not uttering a word but betraying a hint of sorrow in his eyes. John muttered something dark about how the time of ashes being scattered to the wind would one day be upon all of us and most of us wouldn't be as lucky enough to live as long as his Grandmother. It was the most serious I had ever seen Rod. He didn't say anything and a smile did not touch his usually cheerful face. Kate was crying, Gregory and their children were all around her, supporting her every move… a real family unit. What was interesting was that while the younger of Jack's siblings (especially Anne) were sorry to see their Grandmother go, Jack and Hugh were not upset. They showed no emotions whatsoever. Jack had been tense all the way up the hill and through the forest. He was as unreadable as a rock as he walked to the urn and then the top of the cliff, but once the ash had left his fingers he relaxed. His hand seemed warmer when he took mine and when I looked at him it seemed like there had been a great weight lifted from him. Something he'd been carrying for a while. He had stopped running from his past. He had finally let go, finally moved on. Closure.

The house was strangely quiet that night. The family were reflecting on things in their own way. There was none of the drinking and hilarity of the night before. Hardly anyone spoke, including the children and we all went to bed pretty early. I had stayed by Jack's side most of the day, but just as we were retiring to bed Hugh caught my arm. His eyes were serious, his voice low.

"I'm just next door if you… you know, want me," he glanced around to make sure no one was listening. I nodded but said nothing, moved on and went to lie with Jack.

I told myself that I wouldn't see Hugh again that night, but it wasn't long until I lost Jack to a sleep I could not seem to follow him into. I stared into the darkness for hours, facing away from him and feeling the time passing by. Before the sun rose I crawled out of bed and, leaving Jack sleeping, I knocked on Hugh's door.

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	26. Telling Jack

"You are _going _to tell him?" Hugh broke the silence and let go of my hair. I looked at him.

"Yes," I said firmly. Silence. He continued to rub my back. Drained of all my energy, I leant back into him.

"When?"

"Soon."

"I think he's planning on leaving tonight," Hugh told me. Was he? First I'd heard of it.

"Tonight it is then."

"Good," he nodded. I closed my eyes. "Once you've told Jack. What's going to happen to you?"

Too tired to cry, I shrugged. I opened my eyes in an effort to stop myself automatically picturing what was bound to happen. "It depends how he takes it," I said. My answer was truthful, but it also put off saying what I knew I had to. Hugh nodded.

"How do you think he'll take it?"

We both knew the answer. Sometimes truthful answers were the hardest to say, but they had to be said nonetheless. "Badly."

He nodded, confirming what I already knew. "And then what?" The weight of everything threatened to push me down and I thought it might physically stop my heart from beating. The thought alone was enough to make me feel like I was being torn apart and the pieces of me scattered to the wind. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, simultaneously bracing myself for what I needed to say and putting off saying it. "When he takes it badly, what will you do?"

I noticed it was a case of 'when' not 'if'. I looked Hugh in the eye and said it. Doing so did several things at once. It hurt me, it made me stronger. It made it final, set in stone with no way back. In a strange way the certainty of it set me free. Above all, it made me certain I was doing the right thing.

"I'll leave him."

The hardest part of it all was that I had to act as if everything was normal.

I had to smile at Jack when I saw him even though all I wanted to do when his eyes met mine was break down and cry. But I couldn't. I had to laugh along with him and pretend to share in his good mood. He was happy because he was indeed planning on leaving that night. I had to talk to him without my voice cracking. I had to let him wrap his arms around me and hold onto him like everything was normal, like every touch didn't break my heart that little bit more. When he bent to kiss me, I couldn't do it. I could always find some kind of distraction, some excuse to turn away at the last second.

It was the longest day of my life. I both longed for and dreaded the end. I wanted it all to be over. I wanted to lift away the worry and the guilt and the dread that was weighing heavily on my mind. I wanted time to go back to normal- counting up the minuets of the day, rather than what it seemed to be doing now- counting down. Counting down to the moment where everything would change. Every tick of the clock, every beat of my heart seemed more ominous than the one before.

While it was happening, the day felt impossibly long, but once it was over and darkness started to fall I wondered where all the time had gone. The _Pearl _was ready to sail and I waited for Jack at the door of the house, leaning on the doorframe and chewing on my nail. I waited and the minuets turned into years and then I saw him coming up the path and I wished for one more moment. I went to meet him before he reached the door, leaving my mask behind I did not smile.

He smiled when he saw me coming towards him. "Hello, love, are you…?" He looked at me, changed his tone, and changed his question. "Are you alright?"

I shook my head. "We need to talk, Jack."

He nodded, but I saw him panic, silently running through a list of things he could have done wrong. He looked confused, "Of course, shall we-" He gestured to the door of the house, where I could hear Adam and Jenifer laughing. I shook my head.

"No, we should be away from the others." I walked past him and up the garden path, not looking to see if he was following. When we got out onto the wider path he fell into step with me. I said nothing.

"Where are we going?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Somewhere quiet."

"This whole island's 'somewhere quiet'," he smiled. I didn't laugh or smile back; instead I turned off a smaller dirt track and kept walking. I didn't know where I was going, but I thought that I might know when we got there. Sure enough, I stopped in a clearing, with no desire to go further. Here we were surrounded by wilderness that grew tall and thick. We were cut off from the houses of the island, from the _Pearl, _from the people, from the sea. For once it was just Jack and I. I stopped and stood still, my arms folded. I had folded them as I walked to stop Jack taking my hand. Suddenly, I didn't know what to say, where to start. I wished it was the morning again.

"Belle?" Jack said after a moment's silence. "Belle, please say something… you're scaring me."

I looked at him.

"Oh my God, what's happened? Why are you crying?" He took a step towards me; his arms already out to hold me. I stepped away. I shook my head.

"Don't," I said and he dropped his arms. I looked at him, willing myself to speak, but nothing came out.

"What is it?" he asked, looking helpless as I stood there and cried. "Have I done something to upset you, love?" I shook my head and opened my mouth to tell him, but he didn't notice. "Who was it, Belle? Who's done this? What's happened? I swear I'll-"

"Jack." I cut across him. He stopped pacing and looked at me.

"Yes, love?" he asked gently.

"I love you." I said, so that I could hear it one last time.

"I love you too." I memorised the words and the way he said them. Then I turned my back on him.

"For Christ's sake, Belle! Tell me what's going on!" he shouted. It echoed in the silence around us. I looked up from the ground, at the dense wilderness I wanted to disappear into.

"I'm pregnant."

I said it quietly, but I knew he had heard me. The silence that followed swallowed me up. And when I turned around… he was gone.

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**Aaaaand now you know! Honestly, the conclusions you lot were jumping to! Cheating on Jack? Whatever gave you that idea? :P... What do you mean me? Moi? I would never diliberately mislead my readers for my own amusement, you know me! :P**

**Love you!**

**LV  
XX  
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	27. Dear Jack

I thought about running. I didn't know where, but for a brief moment I looked at one of the dark side paths trodden into the thick undergrowth and I longed to run and run and run and never stop, not until I had disappeared into the darkness. So lost I couldn't find myself. But that wouldn't happen. I would end up alone, and eventually have to go back. Or Teague would send people looking fir me and Jack. They would only find me and want to know why. Hugh would know, he would tell them.

I looked for help, wanting to move, but not wanting to go back. It was then that I properly saw the emptiness in front of me. Jack wasn't there, he wasn't ever going to be near me again. My knees buckled and I felt the damp grass under me before I realised I had collapsed. I was shaking too much to even think about running now. How quickly things had changed. A second had been all it took to ruin my life. A part of me had been stupid enough to think that he'd be alright about it. And now that part of me twisting and writhing in agony. Pain erupted inside me and screamed its way out. My nails dug into the grass, ripping it up again and again. My sobs were loud, they choked me and the pain was so much I screamed for just a few seconds of relief.

I was glad that my surroundings were so dense. The thick wall acted as a barrier between me and the rest of the world. It cut me off from the sound, sight and smell of everyone else. Without the distractions of other people it was easier to focus on myself. It was like I was the only person alive. I didn't want to move from where I was. Going back to where there were other people would mean talking about what happened. When I was the only person in the world it didn't seem as real as it would if I had to explain it to other people. If other people knew it would make it final…real. To share the moment that had just happened with anyone else wouldn't feel right at all. It was _my _moment, _my _business. I shouldn't_ have_ to tell anyone, but they'd want to know. I'd have to explain what happened, even though I was the only person directly affected. They would probably guess. They knew his sense of family loyalty was… no! Don't get bitter, I don't want to be was nothing worse than being bitter and alone.

Except I wasn't really alone... I rested a hand on my stomach and suddenly the pain was almost bearable. The tears slowed to a trickle and I felt stronger. This child was mine, but it was also Jack's, so although I had to leave him, I got to take a tiny bit of him with me. I had to look after him or her. They were mine and I would be strong for them. It was my responsibility. I vowed never to blame them for Jack leaving, but only to love them. I also vowed not to blame Jack for the child. I knew there and then how important this child was to me and that I would never, not even for a second, make it feel unloved or unwanted. It may not have been completely planned, but it had been made in love and so I would love it. It was not, nor would it ever be, the child's fault that it's father had left. It wasn't even Jack's fault. It was mine and mine alone.

* * *

I read it over. It didn't sound right, but it would have to do. It was too hard to put what I was feeling into words. The letter felt pathetic in comparison. I hesitated before I put it in a grubby little envelope I had found at the bottom of a drawer. It took all my effort to fold it up and slide it in. I slipped the flap in at the back and wrote his name on the front. I stared at it for ages, feeling its weight in my hands. It seemed to me to be getting heavier.

_Dear Jack,_

_ I know that this isn't what you wanted. I know it's the last thing on your mind, but to me it seems inevitable that something like this would happen. Usually, with marriage comes family and I assumed that you had thought about that before you married me. It seems I was wrong. Maybe that's my fault. I shouldn't have assumed that you were on the same page as me or that you would see this coming._

_ I want you to know that I don't blame you. I don't resent you. None of this is you're fault. I should have been more careful when I thought about what the consequences of marrying you would be. __Don't worry. I don't want anything from you. I don't expect money or for you to visit. I'll get by somehow. You've never thought about, wanted or liked children and I don't want to burden you with it by demanding that you're involved. That would be unfair. I don't want to clip your wings and tie you down to something that is not your fault. I couldn't take away the happiness and freedom that you love, so I am left with no choice but to leave you. I wish things could have worked out differently, but if you have taught me anything it's that there is always a way to survive. We'll be alright, me and the baby, I know it._

_If you ever want to find us, you can. I'll let Teague know where I am once we're settled. Do not feel obliged to visit, but my door will always be open to you. When our child asks about you, I will tell them the truth; that you are a brave and brilliant man. I will tell them about our adventures, how we met. I'll make sure they dont resent you for leaving us or blame you in anyway. _

_I'm sorry things worked out like this. It's my fault. I should have thought it through. I should have talked about it with you first, before we even got married. That is my only regret- not talking about it. I neither regret nor resent being pregnant. I do not regret marrying you and above all I do not regret loving you. I will always love you, Jack. Always. You are the one thing in my life that I love more than life itself and that is because you are the one that makes it worth living. You have made me happier than I ever thought was possible. I honestly do not know how I survived without you, or how I'll continue to live without you in my life. I suppose I will have to find out. I have more than myself to think of now. I have our child to think about._

_I will miss you more than I can bare, but somehow I will bare it. Never doubt that I love you, not even for a second. Remember me, but please do not feel guilty. You owe me nothing but to live a lifetime of happiness. You will often be in my thoughts and always in my heart._

_ All my love,_

_ Izzy_

_ Xxx_


	28. Darkness

A soft knock at my door, I looked up from where his name had me transfixed. I blinked a few times; the knock had come as a kind of shock reminder that there were other people around now. I made a noise as an indication that it was alright for whoever it was to enter, but couldn't form a word. The door swung open and Teague stood in the doorway. I had been quite calm, quite composed until I had seen him. Things had been quite numb and quiet inside me until I saw Teague. There's something about the way that people look at you when there is clearly something wrong that makes you want to break down all over again. Teague saw my already red eyes fill up again and pulled me towards him. I closed my eyes. Teague softly told me that I could stay with them if I wanted. For as long as I wanted. I refused. There was too much here that reminded me of Jack. Too much of him in all of them, in their eyes, in their faces, it would be too hard to stay with those constant reminders.

"He's a prick!" I heard Hugh shout from down the hall. I opened my eyes and saw his blurry outline over his father's shoulder. It drew a wobbly smile from my lips, but I shook my head at his comment.

"No, no he's just Jack."

"It amounts to the same thing in my eyes."

"Well it doesn't in mine," I said firmly and pulled back from Teague, regaining my strength. The letter had got slightly crumpled in his embrace. I looked at it. When I looked back up Teague and Hugh were looking at it too. I held it out. "Next time you see Jack, will you give him this?"

"What does it say?" Hugh asked. I said nothing, but looked at Teague. Teague nodded and took it from me. Hugh looked annoyed and tried to look at what I had handed his father. This annoyed Hugh, he made a move to grab it but backed off when his dad shot him a look. He sighed. "I hope you're telling him he should jump of a cliff and deserves to die and ugly, lonely old man and if he ever comes near you again you're going to carve out his..."

"That's enough, Hugh!" Teague cut across him. Hugh stopped, but didn't look happy about it. "What Jack decided was regrettable, but there is not much that we can do. He is who he is."

"Who he is, is a-"

"Hugh!" Teague snapped. "I said **enough**!"

Hugh looked slightly more than annoyed, but stood back a bit, his lips clamped firmly together. There was a silence. Teague looked at me and I knew by the look in his eyes what his next question would be. I didn't know how to answer it. Telling him I was fine would be a blatant lie, but I didn't want to cry anymore. I knew he would try and convince me to stay, but I couldn't give in. It would sound like the easiest option for me, but if I caved into that I knew it would be hardest for me emotionally.

"Grandad! GRANDAAAAD!" Adam's childish sing-song voice brought an unexpected smile to my lips. Teague looked down as Adam squeezed through the small gap between Teague's leg and the door frame. He blinked up at me for a second before looking at his grandfather. "Gun."

Teague smiled, "No, lad, you can't have a gun just yet." We laughed, but Adam shook his head.

"No, gun!"

"That's right, no gun for you," Teague was still smiling but Adam was not. The little boy shook his head.

"No! Gun outside!" he pointed in the direction of the window. Teague's smile vanished immediately. He crouched down to Adam's level.

"What do you mean, "gun outside"?" he asked

Adam just looked at him, thrown by the seriousness of his tone and unsure whether or not he was in some kind of trouble. In the silence I saw both Teague and Hugh stop moving completely. I froze up too. We listened. The house stopped creaking and listened too. There it was sure enough… distant booms. Hugh frowned, "That's no gun… That's-"

"Cannon fire," Teague muttered grimly.

My hands automatically went to shield my stomach, as if I could protect the baby from the sound. Teague scooped Adam up and we ran to the window. For a moment there was nothing but darkness. We listened. A boom and a bright flash in a dark sea. Adam jumped. "Gun," he whispered. Nobody corrected him. Another flash and a boom, this one closer than the last. A distant orange glow indicated that something was on fire, but whether that something was just a tree or someone's house was unclear.

"Adam! Adam!" Kate's desperate shrieking caused us to turn from where we were all transfixed. At the sound of his mother's voice Adam called out.

"In here Kate!" Teague shouted. She ran in and took Adam from Teague. Adam looked more scared having seen our reactions to his news. Kate joined us at the window.

"Who is it?" she asked.

Teague shrugged. "No idea. It's too dark to see them."

With those words a single thought passed around the room. I knew what they were thinking and while I told myself I did not believe it, I had to question how I knew. Either it was, as Teague suggested, so dark that no ship could be seen even when firing, or the ship itself was so dark that it could not be seen when firing in the dark. As dark as the _Pearl_. I told myself it wasn't the _Pearl_, but who knew what state Jack was in, what he would do? What had I driven him to? And if it wasn't the _Pearl_, then who was it? Would they fire at the _Pearl, _or was the _Pearl _already gone? On the other side of the glass gunshots rang out along with fierce cries directed at this strange new enemy.

"What do we do?" Kate whispered, clinging to Adam and turning away from the chaos that was erupting on the other side of the window.

"We fight," Hugh turned away from the window. I followed him, despite Teague's suggestion that I stay inside with Kate and the children. There was a mad and desperately disorganised scramble for as many weapons as could be found and one by one, every member of Jack's family disappeared into the unknown darkness.

The adrenaline pumped in before I had even left the safety of the doorway. It was a beautiful feeling. It made me forget everything that had happened outside of that one moment I was in. My eyes and ears seemed to work better than they ever had before. The darkness outside was absolute in comparison to the light in the house I had just come out of. It took longer than usual for my eyes to adjust. When they did I could still only see vague shapes and outlines. It was hard to distinguish between trees blowing and people moving. I had to focus, cut everything out. A thought suddenly hit me. I had no idea who the enemy was and what was more not only could I not see them, I could not see _anything_. How then, was I meant to know if anyone I met was friend of foe? I couldn't wait until I could see them or call out because that would mean that they could shoot me before I shot them. But if I shot first I could end up killing one of Jack's family. Adrenaline turned to fear and my blood ran cold.

By now I had walked a distance from the house and everything was incredibly gloomy. Completely on my own and panicked I looked around, squinting to see if that would help me. I listened. In the distance there were cries and shouts. But around me there was silence… almost. I strained. What I had thought to be a breeze was starting to sound much more like heavy breathing. I thought I heard footsteps. I stopped moving and waited. There they were, footsteps, someone was not too far behind me. I looked over my shoulder, but saw nothing. I thought about calling out, but when I opened my mouth nothing came out. I couldn't risk it. I pushed myself forwards, away from the sound. I was far too scared to know what to do. There was far too much risk involved in anything I could think about doing. I hoped that if I tread as quietly as I could they wouldn't hear me. It didn't work. The footsteps rustling in the undergrowth sped up. I did too, quickening my pace until I broke into a run. Glancing behind me and gripped with complete terror at seeing nothing, no hint at whether or not my fear was justified I ran and ran. A light of a flame torch moved in front of me and my heart leapt up in my throat. It was moving towards me, flickering and illuminating the persons face in an odd way, contorting their features beyond recognition. I slowed for a second, unsure of whether to keep going forward or turn away. I tried to make out the face, to judge if they were a threat or not. My hand went to my pistol, but froze as I briefly recognised the person in front of me. I faltered, stumbled over who they were and how I knew them. I momentarily forgot about the person behind me as I tried to focus on who the one in front was. Until they grabbed my arm.


	29. A Fight In The Dark

**Oops, had a slight problem with uploading this, hopefully worked :) Love you guys!**

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I let out a shriek and twisted away from them, swinging my leg until I felt it hit them. Conscious that I couldn't run forward in case the person in front, who now knew I was here thanks to my scream, was a foe I knew I was going to have to fight my way out of this corner. The person stumbled, their fingertips brushed against me. I kicked out again, hitting them in the stomach. In the gloom I saw that they were bent double, completely winded. Without really thinking about it I grabbed both shoulders and kicked them as hard as I could between the legs. The yelp they let out informed me that my opponent was male. I took a blind swing in the darkness and hit his jaw. While he was momentarily incapacitated I knocked him to the ground. I pinned him down and then panicked over the amount of time I had before the figure with the torch reached us. Unsure of what to do with the one I had pinned I settled for taking another swing at him.

I could hear him panting to recover. Knocking him to the ground had clearly winded him. He grabbed my arms. I struggled, squirmed and kicked as hard as I could. He pushed me. I resisted, but he managed to get out from under me. I bent my knee and slammed it into his ribs. His grip slackened momentarily and he cried out in pain. I tried again, but when I had concentrated all my effort on my legs he had managed to push my slackened upped body down onto my back. I twisted again and tried to kick him. He pinned down my shoulders. My arms were then free to punch him. It never occurred to me that he was not hurting me deliberately until he panted, "Stop… hitting… me… you… lunatic."

I stopped. "Jack?"

"Yes love," was the strained reply. I froze for a second. Then I hit him again. "Ouch."

"Sorry," I said almost immediately after I had done it. I wasn't really sure why I had done it. I couldn't see him in the dark, but I wished I could. I needed to see his expression. I reminded myself that I wasn't angry with him. I tried to stay calm and rationally work out what to do, how to act… But then I felt him kissing me in the dark and all reason went out the window. God knows how he managed to find my lips. I slapped him.

"_Ouch!" _

"Sorry," I said automatically, but I didn't mean it as much as I had the first time. He had to learn that he couldn't just kiss me with no explanation of whether he was staying or leaving me. There was a silence. I wondered how to ask him, what to say. Maybe I should just hit him again…

"Isabel?" a man's voice made me turn, confused. The torchlight was hurrying towards us. I had forgotten about the second mystery person. And he knew me too… oh good. "Isabel is that you?"

I squinted as the flickering flame cast light over Jack and I. A face loomed at us. "Fitzwilliam!" I gasped. What was my cousin doing here? His eyes were wide on mine for a second, then he looked outraged and disgusted. I felt offended until I realised he was looking at Jack. He sneered down at him. Beside me I heard Jack mutter "Bugger". I realised then how it would have looked. He had had his arms around me and he was the one pining _me _down and after the sounds of a struggle it would have seemed like he had been the one beating me up, rather than the other way around.

"Get off my cousin," Fitzwilliam spat out his disgust. Before we could move he had laid down his torch on the forest floor and pulled Jack up by his collar. I heard the click of a gun's safety and in a flash I was on my feet with my own gun drawn. Fitzwillaim pushed Jack to his knees before he felt the barrel of my gun at his neck.

"Step away from my husband," I said. There was a long silence.

"Your _what?" _

"My husband," I repeated calmly.

"_He _is your _husband_?" Fitzwilliam stammered, "But… but… he's a pirate."

"I know."

"And your husband?" he asked again, just to clarify.

"Yes," I nodded. "And I would much appreciate it if you _didn't _blow his brains out."

"I'd appreciate it too actually," Jack piped up. Fitzwilliam looked from me to him. "Especially since I am the father of the child she is now carrying."

I thought for a moment that my cousin was about to faint. He made a strange kind of choking noise before he whispered, "_What?_"

"You can't see it," Jack said wisely. "You wouldn't notice. It's _inside _her at the moment, but it is there. It is real and really there. Really, really real."

I couldn't tell if the last part was for the benefit of Fitzwilliam, or himself. Fitzwilliam looked at me. "Is this true? You're pregnant?"

I nodded, then realised it was probably too dark for him to see me. "Yes, I'm pregnant."

"And _he_," Fitzwilliam shook Jack roughly. "Is the father?"

"Yes."

It was then that Fitzwilliam fainted.

I leapt back as he landed on my feet. Jack stood up and brushed himself off. There was a long silence. The circumstances were so odd and I had no idea how to react, or what to say to him. Should I say anything at all? Time passed and neither of us spoke. I turned away from him, resigned to giving up. I started to walk away. What should I do about Jack? What should I do about my unconscious cousin? I wanted to cry, or scream… or even laugh. I bit my lip to hold in whatever it was that was trying to come out.

"Dad gave me your letter," he said.

I stopped. "Did you read it."

There was a pause, "Yes, love."

"Oh."

Silence. I wondered whether I should just keep walking.

"Did you mean what you wrote?"

This time, I turned. "Yes."

His outline walked towards me and picked up the torch that was still alight. I saw my letter in his other hand. It was open and I could see the writing, but couldn't make out the words. Not that I needed to, I knew what it said by heart. He shook his head, "I can't do this."


	30. Talking Things Through

**Thanks for reviewing the last one guys!**

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Even though I knew it was coming it still crushed me. I had known that he wouldn't deal well with fatherhood and I had _thought _that I had made my peace with that. I had thought that I had cleared my head enough for it not to hurt me. I was wrong. I had felt prepared and ready until he had said the words. I was thankful that the dark was there to hide my face. I felt my eyes sting and everything started to wobble. For a second a bitter sob threatened to escape and in that same second I was ripped completely to shreds. Then I coughed over the lump in my throat and picked up the pieces. I could tell from the throbbing pain that I would only hold together temporarily, but I prayed I could hold it until this conversation was over.

"I know," I said. My voice was weak, but at least I hadn't broken down. I shook my head and stepped back, away from him. "It's fine. Like I said… I… I don't want anything. You can just-"

"Isabel," Jack caught my arm with the hand that held my letter. I flinched like the paper had burned my skin. I stepped back again. He let go and looked down at my letter. "I can't believe you wrote this."

He said it quietly. I was hurting too much to work out his tone. I supposed that there would be gratitude in there. At least he was thanking me for my sacrifice. "It's fine," I said again, desperate to get out of there. He was so focused on me and I was so distracted with trying to get away, get out of this conversation.

"No, it isn't," he sounded a bit angry.

"Yes, it is."

"No. No!" He shook the letter at me. "It is _not _fine. And do you know _why _it is not fine?" He was furious now and couldn't seem to stay still. I was almost scared of the answer, but as quietly and calmly as I could I asked him why. I could see he was shaking, the torchlight quivered in his hand. "Because you… you-!"

He was unable to finish, but I'd got the idea. "Me? You're blaming me for this?"

"Yes."

"I know it's my fault, I've already-"

"The baby's not your fault!" he practically screamed at me. "_This _is." He shook the letter again.

"What?"

"_This…_This…" He was clutching it so tightly it was creasing. "You've let me off…. Completely! I don't have to do anything. I don't even have to see you again. Ever."

"I know."

"I should leave. Never look back. Live my life far, far away from you. Shouldn't I?"

"Yes…" I stammered. "If… If that's what you want then yes."

He was silent for a long time. I began to wonder if he was going to talk again. Should I leave? And if I did, how would I say goodbye? I stayed where I was. He was shaking his head. "I can't…" he whispered. "I can't leave."

I took a deep breath. "Yes you can. I told you. I want you to be happy, so go. I'll be fine."

It was then that I turned to walk away. I wouldn't let him stay with me just because of the baby. He would be miserable. He would resent me for it, and maybe even start to resent the child. Children aren't stupid, that much I knew. They can pick up on things better than adults give them credit for and our child would know when they got older that their dad was unhappy. And he or she would probably blame themselves. I wanted my baby to grow up knowing that they were loved. Even if it was just me to love them.

"I won't be," I heard Jack's voice crack a little when I was a few yards away. I turned back to him.

"What?" I asked. He was standing there and for the first time in his life I thought he looked a bit helpless. I didn't move towards him.

"I won't be fine," he said. I let the silence fill the gap. "I should want to leave, but I can't. I can't do what I should want to do because it's not what I want to do. And it's your fault I don't want to do it. I was going to run, Isabel. I _did_ run, but after I heard the canons I had to come back. I wanted to check that you were alright and I thought it was out of guilt. I felt guilty that you were alone and pregnant and probably very angry so I came back." He took a deep breath. Again, I did nothing to interrupt the silence. "Then Dad gave me this letter and I knew you weren't angry. You said I could leave, which is what I had been doing. I tried to run again. Running in the canon fire would have been the opportune moment to go, but I couldn't bring myself to. It wasn't guilt keeping me, you'd let me off with everything. It was you. I love you too damn much to leave…" He held out my letter. "I can't do_ this_- what you say here; not know where you are, live without you, pretend like you don't even exist. You may be fine without me love, but I'm sure as hell not going to be fine without you."

I gulped. I almost ran to him, but I didn't. "Jack," I sighed. "This isn't about me and you anymore. You don't want children. You don't even _like _children. And I want my child to feel wanted. The child is what's important now and if you don't want children then I don't want you around."

"I don't like children. I don't want children," he agreed_."_ But what I dowant is _our _child." He stepped towards me. "It's different, love."

"Is it?"

"Yes." By now he had reached me and very slowly he reached out a hand to touch my stomach. "Because it's a little bit _ours_. I love it. Isn't that stupid, love? I love it already and I haven't even met it yet." For a moment we both got a little bit lost in the silence. He rubbed my stomach slowly. "So, darlin'… can I stay?"

I looked at him, surprised to find there were tears in my eyes. "Do you mean it?" He nodded; the look in his eyes was so sincere, but I had seen him look sincere before when he had been lying. Then the torchlight flickered and I saw the glint of a tear track. At some point during his speech he had been crying. "Yes, you can stay."

"Yes?" A smile split his face.

I nodded, matching his smile. "Yes."

He kissed me, being careful to keep the burning torch away from us as he wrapped his free arm tightly around my waist. I hugged his neck and fought the tears that threatened to turn to laughter. A loud moan stopped us short.

We looked down at Fitzwilliam. I had completely forgotten about my cousin. "Oh," said Jack. "You're awake."

He kissed me again, quickly. Fitzwilliam groaned. I pulled back a little from Jack. "What?" I asked innocently as if I didn't already know.

"Don't do that. It is disgusting," he hauled himself up.

"She's growing a real life miniature person inside her, mate. Have some respect. What have you done that's of any use lately?" Jack winked at me as Fitzwilliam dusted himself down. I rested my head on Jack's chest.

"Well, let's see," Fitzwilliam mused. "I've been promoted, fought pirates in Singapore, and destroyed many of them. What else…? Oh yes, I've been in Port Royale. You've been missed, Isabel and I'm here to get you back."


	31. Fitzwilliam

"Can't let you do that, mate," Jack drew his pistol and pushed me behind him with the other hand. "Spent too long trying to get her back."

"Jack! No!" I gasped as his finger tensed on the trigger. He gaped at me in disbelief at my protest. "You can't shoot him! That's my cousin!"

Fitzwilliam looked smug. I touched Jack's arm and tried to gently tug it down, but he kept the barrel firmly trained on Fitzwilliam. "Isabel," he said through gritted teeth. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Don't shoot my cousin then." When Fitzwilliam laughed I turned to him. "I'm not coming with you, Fitz."

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice. George has-" he looked away from me and then back to Jack's gun. He didn't even look wary, which was annoying, but he was family. I couldn't live with myself if I let Jack kill him. I couldn't live with Jack either, not with family blood on his hands. Fitzwilliam stopped what he was saying, and looked down his nose at Jack. "Put it down."

"No."

Fitzwilliam sighed, but it didn't seem genuine. He stayed silent then, a small little smile played on his lips. It was not a nice smile. It was a self-satisfied smile. My heart was racing, "Jack… please…"

He looked at me, but didn't move. I went to stand in front of the gun, but he grabbed my arm in case I got too near Fitzwilliam. "Isabel!" Jack said angrily. "He is trying to-"

"I'm aware of what he wants, Jack," I muttered. "And you shooting him is not going to solve anything."

"It might…" he muttered sulkily. I sighed and took advantage of his sulk to pull myself free. I stepped towards my cousin.

"Fitzwilliam," I said in my most reasonable tone. "I cannot come back with you. My life is here, with Jack."

"George has-"

Jack grunted. "Why can't he leave us alone?"

I shushed him and looked back to Fitzwilliam. "Fitz… what has George done?"

There was a smile on his face that I really didn't like. He was looking smugly at Jack. "He's put a price on _his_ head." The look he was giving Jack changed from one of smugness to delicious enjoyment. "Alive..." he pulled his pistol out. "… Or dead."

I stepped in front of Jack, who immediately tried to lunge for Fitzwilliam. I raised my hands, "Put the gun down, _please_… "

"I wont kill him if you come with me," Fitzwilliam said in his most slimy and persuasive tone.

"No," Jack said immediately. I turned to him.

"Jack, don't say anything," I snapped.

"You can't seriously be-"

"Ssshh! I'm thinking!" Because of my panic my tone raised several pitches. Jack sighed, but stayed silent. I looked at Fitzwilliam. His finger toyed with the trigger. I made sure I stayed as in the way as possible. "This is ridiculous, Fitz. I can't go back. I'm already married."

"Nobody else needs to know that. George hass told everyone, including me, that you had been kidnapped.

"He should have told everyone that I died in the earthquake!" My temper rose. I realised I was actually shaking.

Fitzwilliam spoke over me. "And as for the marriage, that can be easily dealt with," he smiled like he was enjoying this. "Kill him and not tell anyone."

A little gasp escaped my mouth. "No!"

Fitz smiled. "Alright, I won't kill him if you come with me now and he swears never to come near you again."

Jack let out a bark of cold laughter. "You think I won't fight for her?"

"You come near her and we'll kill you." He softened his tone, but did not sound any friendlier, "Come on… I'm giving you a fair deal here."

"Fair?" I repeated.

"Well… you both live don't you? It's just good business, Isabel."

I shuddered. Bile rose in my throat.

"_Now _can I shoot him?" Jack shifted from foot to foot. I almost said yes, but I refrained.

"I'm pregnant." My attempts to reason with him were getting desperate. "That's not something I can hide."

"We'll tell everyone its George's."

"The timing's a bit off." This conversation was getting ridiculous, but I was moving slowly towards my cousin. He shrugged.

"Then we'll tell people he raped you." On hearing this Jack surged forwards. I swung my arm and knocked the gun out of his hands just as it went off with a crack. The bullet pinged off into the darkness. Fitzwilliam had sprung back, but seeing he was safe had started to laugh. "Kidnap… rape, they go hand in hand with piracy."

"I won't go along with it," I said, my eyes burning. A part of me wondered why I bothered saving my own cousin's life when he was trying to ruin mine. I knew this statement wasn't going to have any effect on Fitzwilliam. The people in Port Royal would never believe me over George. It was something we both knew. Before he could mock me I closed the gap between us and put my hands on his shoulders. Jack called out behind me, warning me not to get too close to Fitzwilliam. He had run to pick up the pistol I had knocked away, which gave me a moment to get close to Fitzwilliam. "Fitz…" I said gently. "Please, listen. I'm happy here. I have my own life. Go and tell George that I'm dead, or you couldn't find me… anything to keep him away. Please Fitz. Please help me."

"I am. I am helping you." He lowered his voice. "Isabel, you may not see it, but this life you're living is ridiculous. You cannot love a _pirate_. I can help you escape. You understand that don't you?"

I smiled. He smiled back before I kicked him in the stomach. Jack swooped in behind him and hit him on the back of the head with the hilt of his gun. It was enough to knock him out. He lay still. Jack looked down at him. "If I shot him now…"

"No," I said bluntly and turned away. "Leave him lying."

"But-"

"I don't want his blood on my hands, Jack. Or on yours," I added as I took his (figuratively) clean hand and walked away. There was a silence between us for a moment. I knew he was still angry. I sighed. "Why can't George just-"

"Die." Jack finished. I let him have that one. "We're going far away, Belle. So far he'll give up."

"Where?"

"The Fountain of Youth."

I sighed. "Jack… not this again…"

"Do you think there is a chance I am risking losing you or the baby _ever?" _he answered his own question. "No chance. Immortality's the only way, love. Then we can beat the threats from George and you're delightful cousin. He won't be able to hurt us." He gestured back to where we'd let Fitzwilliam. "And by the time we get back. George will have given up. He'll never find us. He won't know anything about us going to the Fountain of Youth."

He was, of course, wrong. George knew our plans better than I did. And he wasn't the only one.

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	32. Baby Names and Rum

**Yo! This Chapters kinda short, and if I'm honest it's a little bit of a filler chapter while I do some fine tuning to the plot. I know how it ends though, which is always good as I have a firm direction I need to go in. Anyway, I'll try and be quick if you'll still love me!**

**LV**

**xx  
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"So, I was thinking…" Jack's hand was resting on my stomach. He stopped rubbing my abdomen and craned to look at me. I lifted my head from his shoulder with a spreading feeling of apprehension. I had learned from experience that when Jack was thinking, it was usually something weird.

"Yes…?"

"If it's a boy we name it Jack if it's a girl we name it Jacqueline," he looked at me and smiled. His eyes were hopeful. I smiled back at him. He knew the answer.

"No."

He sighed and pulled a face. "Why not?"

"We can't have two Jacks, I won't know which one of you I'm telling off," I replied. He mulled over this for a moment before accepting my point. "And anyway," I continued. "Why do babies have to be named after the men? Why I can't we name it after me?"

"What, Isabel?"

"Well, yes, that is my name after all."

"That wouldn't work," he said, wrinkling his nose.

"Why not?"

"Well… if we have a girl we call it Isabel."

"Yes."

"And if it's a boy…?"

I struggled to search for the male equivalent of my name. "Isa… Isabob."

"Isabob?" Jack repeated incredulously. I nodded, fighting to make him think I was serious and stop myself from laughing. "_Isabob?"_

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you have some sort of problem with my name suggestion, Jack?"

"Only in so much as it's not _actually _a name." I glowered at him. He shifted uncomfortably. "Alright, let's say we don't name the baby after either of us. How about we name it after… Fitzwilliam, he's been a lot of help(!)" Sick suddenly rose up in my throat. I sat bolt upright and clamped a hand over my mouth, gagging to stop myself from being sick all over the bed. Jack sat up too, looking worried. "I was joking you know, I didn't actually mean that we had to…"

I gagged again and ran for the door. In my panic I struggled with the handle. There was a moment where I just kept twisting and I didn't think I'd make it out on time. I pulled it open with more force than I meant and stumbled out onto the deck. Gibbs leapt out of my way and I slammed into the rail, hurling my guts out over the sea. My head spun a little and I took a deep breath. I knew my body wasn't quite finished throwing up yet. I closed my eyes. "Bugger," I heard Jack say as I threw up again. "I was joking, I didn't think… I was… Isabob's fine if it's not going to make you…"

I managed to look up at him. "It's not the names," my voice was a bit shaky. "It's morning sickness you fool."

"Oh," he relaxed a bit more and put an arm around my shoulders as I waited to see if the nausea had subsided. It hadn't. "Good 'cause I think the child may have been sick with a name like Isabob." I was sick one last time. "Bloody hell. This happens _every _morning?"

I stood up. "Yeah, it's gone now." I wiped my mouth.

"You sure?" Jack hugged me to him. I nodded. It was quiet on deck as it was still early morning. The sun was up, Jack and I were up, but most of the crew were still down below. We had escaped from Fitzwilliam and his crew the night before, largely thanks to them being severely outnumbered on an island full of pirates. They had retreated and we had deliberately lost sight of them. The sea was empty around us, which made me feel safe. Safer than I had before. I genuinely believed the worst was over. I wrapped my arms around Jack, glad to have him there. It would have been hell trying to make it on my own. It was good to have his support in the morning, rather than his brother's, though Hugh had been great with me.

"Cap'n," Gibbs looked cheery despite how early it was. I felt Jack sigh.

"Yes, Master Gibbs?"

"Well, now that we're away and everything seems to be in order, should we not be setting sail for the Fountain of Youth?"

"Patience, Gibbs," Jack said. I almost laughed because he was the most impatient man on the ship. "It'll be a long voyage, there's no telling how long and we didn't have time to get any of the things we unloaded at Teague's back on board. So, what'll we be needing?"

Gibbs looked genuinely confused. "Food?"

"More important than food."

He thought for a long time. "Weapons," he said with some pride. Jack shook his head and Gibb's pride deflated.

"More important than weapons."

"Rum," I sighed. Gibbs looked like he could have kicked himself.

"Good, love," Jack smiled at me, then he frowned at Gibbs. "Call yourself a pirate, man?" He put his arm around me and walked me away, leaving Gibbs alone and shamed. I was right to worry when I saw that Jack looked thoughtfully. "Rum's a good baby name, don't you think?"

"… No."

* * *

It was beginning to seem as if Tortuga was the one thing that remained a constant place in my life. I wasn't altogether too sure how much I trusted Tortuga to supply us with everything we needed, but Jack assured me I wouldn't get food poisoning. We got there in the morning and were only just ready to leave again as night fell. It really did look like this journey was going to be an exceedingly long one. I just prayed that it would be worth it and it wouldn't be our last. I hadn't forgotten Teague's reaction to the Fountain and the Charts. I trusted Teague more now than I ever had before and his feelings against the Fountain were so strong it made me uneasy. I wished that Jack had heeded his warning, but I knew that because Teague had forbidden him from going Jack would be more determined than ever. So it was with some sense of foreboding that I helped load the last few creates from the dock to the _Pearl_ and stepped onto the deck to embark upon another perilous journey on Uncharted Waters. On stranger tides.


	33. A Little Bit Of Magic

I couldn't sleep. Every time I closed my eyes they'd spring back open of their own accord and stare into the darkness. The darkness gave me no comfort, but still I stared at it. The weight and worry over the Fountain of Youth was weighing me down and playing on my mind. Something about the entire idea of it made me uneasy. Surely it couldn't be as good as Jack was making it out to be, or everyone in the world would be immortal. There had to be some kind of catch. Had anyone even been there before? Was he sure it even existed or was his thirst for immortality completely clouding his judgement? Restless with worry, I tossed and turned, sat up, lay back down, got up, and climbed back into bad again. I was surprised none of my movements woke Jack. Maybe a part of me wanted him to wake up so he could tell me there was nothing to be afraid of. Even the morning sunlight could not dissolve the fears I'd had in the night.

I sat the end of the bed and waited for Jack to wake up after having opened up the curtains to speed the process up a little. I watched him stir. He turned over to face where I would have been lying and reached out a hand with a small sleepy smile on his face. I almost laughed when the smile dissolved to panic and confusion on not finding me there. He sat up, saw me sitting at his feet, staring at him and almost fell out of bed in shock. "Belle! How long have you been there?"

I shrugged. "A while."

"Do you… do you do this… _regularly_?" he asked, sounding a bit worried. "Because I don't think that's very normal, love."

"No, I was waiting for you to wake up. Jack I need to-"

"Have you _tidied up?_" he asked incredulously, looking around at his cabin in a little bit of shock. I nodded. His eyes widened. "How much time did you _have_? Did you get any sleep at all?"

"No, listen, Jack, I'm worried about the Fountain. Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Of course I do," he beamed at me. I sighed. It was a stupid question for me to have asked, Jack always thought all his ideas were brilliant. Even the rubbish ones, like naming a child 'Rum', for example.

"But… is it safe?"

"Er…" he hesitated. "Define 'safe'?"

"Something that doesn't involve any of us dying."

He sighed. "Darlin' who am I?" I glowered at him. We both knew there was no way I was going to answer that ridiculous question. His smile faltered, if only for a second before he answered it himself as if that was what he had intended to do from the outset. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. And what does that make me?"

I paused, "A little bit insane."

"Only if by 'insane' you mean charming, witty, cunning and brave." He winked at me. I rolled my eyes. It was not what I had meant by insane and his little speech was in no way answering any of my questions or making me feel any better about anything. "And," he looked triumphant. "To add to that list I've got a little bit of magic."

Right, that answers that then, my husband definitely _is _insane.

"Magic?" I repeated, searching for something in his eyes that would assure me he was joking. He nodded.

"Didn't think we could get somewhere as guarded as the Fountain of Youth without a _teeny _bit of the stuff did you, love?" In his eyes I could see he was laughing at my apparent naivety.

"But, Jack…. Magic doesn't exist. It's just folklore from the Old World. Stories. None of it's real."

He laughed out loud then. "Isabel, you've seen cursed pirates and the supposedly mythical Kraken. You've sailed to the ends of the earth, spoken to Davy Jones and his crew of Fishpeople and you still think that the stories of the Old World are folklore? Did you walk around with your eyes shut and your fingers in your ears while we were at Tia's?"

For a second I couldn't speak. Small shivers ran up and down my spine. Old World stories I'd heard as a child began to flood back. Stories that James had told me were false, meant for children and had been proved to mean nothing by the New World, the more "civilised" world, the British Empire was creating. Suddenly the world I was living in seemed like a completely different place. "You're telling me…" I said slowly. "That _you _can preform magic?"

"No," Jack shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous. However, I do know someone who can and let me tell you, love, you won't be calling _me _insane after you've met her!"

Oh… dear.

* * *

Her house didn't look any different to any of the other ones, so I admit to being surprised when we stopped outside it. I even wondered if Jack was sure we had the right house, but he strode confidently up the path. His crew followed, dragging their feet. The only unexpected thing that happened then was that Jack did not knock or ring a bell, he just walked straight in. I followed, bracing myself for an interior just as strange as Tia Dalma's had been. It was nothing like it. The place was completely empty. There weren't even any curtains on the windows, but everything was very clean. The windows were shining as if they could have been freshly washed and there was not even a speck of dust on the floor. The walls and floor were completely bare; there was no furniture anywhere, just the cold floorboards stretching out, broken only in one place by a small piece of string lying in the middle of the room. The whole house seemed dead. Everything was very silent, very still. For a second I was almost afraid to break the silence. The crew coming in behind me looked just as confused by what they saw. I looked at Jack. "Are we in the right place?"

My voice sounded deadened, quieter, in this atmosphere. "Course we are," he beamed. "Why wouldn't we be?"

"It just…" I looked around, half-expecting to see a figure in a shadowy corner. "It doesn't look like anyone lives here."

"That," he said. "Would be because you don't know where to look."

He walked over to the centre of the room. I didn't particularly wish to follow him. I was unsure of this place and so were the crew who stayed hovering around the outskirts of the room and by the door. Jack bent over and tugged on the string. From somewhere, deep inside the ground, a bell tolled. Ragetti jumped. "What was that?"

"Just ringing the doorbell," said Jack cheerfully.


	34. Indigo

There was a very long, apprehensive silence. I felt myself lean forwards to see if I could see anything, while all my instincts and the fear I was feeling was telling me to leave. The silence was so heavy it was almost unbearable. I didn't want to be the one to break it, but I wanted it broken. Even the noise from outside was deadened. Jack looked at all of us, a smile played around his lips and he took a few small steps back. His eyes met mine and I could tell he was amused by our apprehension. I opened my mouth to say something, but the silence did not permit me to speak. It had just reached the point where we all thought that nothing was going to happen when a huge section of the floor sprang up in front of us. It came crashing down on the other side to reveal a well concealed trapdoor. I screamed and jumped back, my heart racing from the shock of it. I heard Jack laugh at me and the others who had jumped in fright.

"Indigo," Jack called out, crouching down by the trapdoor. A head popped up so suddenly even he flinched. A woman with messy, untamed hair and wide green eyes looked solemnly up at us all.

"Too many," was all she said before she disappeared back down. Jack nodded.

"I thought as much," he said. "Belle, Gibbs, come with me, the rest of you will have to wait here."

Gibbs looked as sick as I felt. Jack grinned at us. I went to stand near the hole and Gibbs reluctantly followed suit. I looked down into complete darkness. Gibbs asked exactly what I was thinking, "How… er, how exactly do we get… down?"

"Jump," Jack replied and stepped over the edge as if it was the simplest thing it the world. I waited for a thud but it never came. Gibbs and I looked at each other.

"After you," I smiled encouragingly. He was looking distinctly pale. He shook his head.

"No, no, ladies first," he gave a courteous little nod. I sighed. Pirates were only gentlemen when it suited them. If this had been the queue for rum there is no way Gibbs would have adopted a 'ladies first' attitude. Then again, were I still a proper lady I shouldn't have been in a queue for rum. I glowered at him for his cowardly chivalry and took a deep breath. I shuffled forward so that my toes rested over the very edge and looked down into nothing. My stomach turned over. There was still no sound from Jack. I closed my eyes and stepped off, holding my breath to stop myself from screaming. Air rushed past me for a second. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and kept my arms clamped by my side. The fall was not as long as I thought it would be and the landing was much more comfortable. I sank into something soft and for a second I didn't move. I knew I should before Gibbs came tumbling down on my head. I moved to stand up. It was difficult to get up from such a cushiony surface. Someone grabbed me and pulled me up. Before I could ask who it was I felt them pull me away from where I had landed and kiss me.

"Jack?" I whispered, as a precaution.

"I am very glad you're not Gibbs," was his reply. I laughed and looked up to see Gibbs silhouetted against the light above us, still peering down. I almost shouted up to tell him that I was alright and so was the fall, but I decided keeping quiet would better punish his courage. I thought about making a loud, painful sounding scream just to scare him but he'd never jump if I did that. After a second's hesitation Gibbs jumped and Jack and I stood well back. I felt him land on the spongy material we were standing on.

"Are you gonna go and kiss him?" I asked. I felt Jack shudder.

"Isabel?" Gibb's voice called.

"Over here," I replied. "Jack's here too."

"Where's… that woman?" Gibbs asked as he. I'd almost forgotten about her.

"Follow me," Jack took my hand and tugged on it. In the dark I turned and reached for Gibbs so that he wouldn't get lost. I found his arm and took hold of it just as Jack pulled us all forwards. I was sure there had to be a wall close by, but I couldn't see anything. A corner of the dark lifted away in Jack's hands and light beamed through. Jack had lifted up a heavy black curtain and was leading us into a bright room beyond it. In contrast to where we had just come from the light made my eyes ache. I tried to blink it away before I even attempted to focus on anything. "Belle, Gibbs… meet Indigo Capriol."

She was a tiny woman with big hair and long nails. She was younger than I had been expecting, but there was something about her eyes that made her seem older and wiser than her years. There was also something incredibly powerful in them, she was tiny but you wouldn't cross her. I smiled and stuck out my hand for her to shake. She grabbed it and used it to propel me towards her. I heard her sniff me. It was a bit alarming. "You are with child," she informed me.

"Creepy how she knows these things isn't it?" Jack grinned and Indigo moved to sniff Gibbs.

"…Or maybe she's just observant!" I said, pointing at my stomach, which had, in the time it had taken us to get to Indigo's, developed somewhat of a bump. Jack frowned.

The air was thick with incense. A strange, sickly scent filled my nose and mouth. It made me feel dizzy, drowsy and sick all at the same time, the only possible benefit being that it completely relaxed me. Spirals of bright purple smoke were twisting their way up from several of the candles around the room. The flames were green and seemed to flicker less than the other, ordinary candles with ordinary flames. My eyes couldn't seem to focus on much with the incense clouding all my senses. I looked at the others as best I could. Gibbs was looking dizzy, Jack was blinking a lot and Indigo was staring at my baby-bump. His eyes met mine as I swayed on the spot. He caught my elbow. "You alright?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "The incense is a little strong, that's all."

Indigo lifted her eyes from my abdomen. "I'm sorry," she said gravely, but from the look she was giving me I got the feeling that she wasn't sorry about the incense. An inexplicable shiver ran up my spine.

"Ah, she'll get used to it," Jack brushed it off. "I suppose you already know why we're here, we're looking for the Fountain of Youth."

Indigo's eyes left mine, "You shouldn't do that."

The words 'I told you so' sprang to the front of my mind and danced on the tip of my tongue.


	35. In a Crocodile's Head

I looked at Jack, _itching_ to rub it in his face that I was right, but he was very deliberately not looking at me. Gibbs looked a bit tense and nervous, but that was usual for him in this kind of situation. He was so superstitious, sometimes I thought he was a little to superstitious, but there were times when this was useful. It helped to have someone like that. Someone who took every detail of what he heard seriously and relished in re-telling it. Unlike Jack who brushed it all off and carried on regardless. Jack's attitude made me feel more relaxed, but when I thought about it I realised how often Gibbs was right. Everything he'd said about the Kraken, Davy Jones, the Locker, Barbossa and the crew when they were cursed… everything he'd ever told me (apart from it being bad luck to have a woman on board… obviously), however ridiculous it had sounded, had been pretty much spot-on. So the bead of nervous sweat slowly snaking its way down his brow made my stomach flip and my hands go all clammy. Was that what it was? Nervous sweat, or was it just hot down here? I looked back to Indigo.

"Why not?" I asked tentatively. She looked at me. I felt like she could hear everything I was thinking, which made me so uneasy that I tried to stop all my conscious thought. I didn't work and I ended up thinking about how much I was panicking about hiding my thoughts. Her lips twitched in an amused smile.

"You shouldn't go," she said again, then looked back at Jack. I felt like an inexplicable pressure had been lifted off my mind. "But you will, won't you?"

It didn't sound like a question. "I have the Charts," Jack replied.

"You'll need more than that."

"I know, that's why I'm here."

Indigo nodded, "I know." She paused for a second, tilting her head to one side, then she lifted up a white sheet on a long and cluttered table that had been covering up the perfectly preserved head of a crocodile. Something burned where its eyes should have been. I flinched away from it, and then looked back with a mix of disgust and interest. She opened up its mouth and pulled out a bag with something black in it.

"For the shadows," she said. Jack took it. She pulled back the sheet further to reveal the rest of the crocodile's body. She unscrewed the tip of the tail and pulled out a tiny glass bottle full of a purple-red liquid. "For the entrance."

"What is all this?" I whispered to Gibbs as she opened up the bottom of the crocodile's tail. He just shook his head. She handed over a small wooden box.

"For the merfolk," she said. I almost laughed until I saw the colour drain from Gibb's face. "Anything else and you're on your own."

"What do you mean 'anything else'? I thought you knew."

She laughed at Jack's naivety. "The Triangle changes, Jack. Things seldom stay the same. You're in Untamed Waters there. Be sure the shifting horizons don't get you lost."

Shifting horizons? Either Indigo was completely insane for thinking horizons could change, or Jack was for making us go to a place where they. Right now it looked about even… Jack was smiling, but he was the only one. "Well, thanks," he said cheerfully, I could tell he was about to make his excuses and leave. I was kind of relived. I wasn't sure how much more of the incense candles I could stand. I hoped breathing all this stuff in wasn't damaging the baby.

"Two more things," she said, opening up the back of the crocodile and lifting up a large book. Gibbs took it as Jack's hands were getting full. They stared at it in dismay.

"What's that for?" Jack asked.

"The journey," Indigo smiled as she reached down again. Jack gave a soft groan. He hated reading, so probably wouldn't.

"We can always use it to hit someone with," Gibbs muttered. I smiled at him, but he wasn't looking best pleased. Indigo walked towards me holding a small bag on the end of a chain. The top was tied tightly, but the strong stench radiated through. She put the chain round my neck. I tried not to retch.

"In case the men take leave of their senses," she told me. I nodded, not at all sure what she meant, but concentrating on breathing through my mouth.

"I can take that if you want," Gibbs offered.

"No," Indigo said before I could even think about making a decision. "It's hers. Didn't you know its good luck to have a woman aboard?"

_Ha!_

Gibbs said nothing, but the muscles in his jaw tightened. For the second time in that room I felt like saying 'I told you so'. But the stench coming from my little black bag was too much for me to even consider speaking. Indigo turned her back to us. "You should go now. Twilight's almost over."

Jack turned and motioned for us to go back out the way we had come. When we got to the door I turned to say goodbye, but Indigo had gone. The candle at the far side of the room went out. Then the one next to it did exactly the same without even as much as a flicker. Then two went out at once. The green candles remained as they were, their flames growing in the coming darkness. The got taller and wider, even from the very base. The more ordinary candles that went out the stronger the green ones got. I could now almost feel the incense touching me. "Jack…" I said groggily as I felt the room sway. "The candles…"

"Bugger!" he yelled and pulled me along, forcing my leaded feet to run. I was so heavy… so tired. I just wanted to sleep. Who cared what happened as long as I could just sleep…? …Just for a little bit. Someone pushed me forward and I stumbled through the curtain in to the dark space we had landed in after jumping down. The air was clearer here and my drowsiness lifted instantly. I sensed Jack's panic and scrambled on as fast as he told me to, clambering up a ladder he told me was there but I could barely see. I have never climbed so fast in all my life. I leapt up the last few, rolling onto the floor. I pulled Jack up, then Gibbs, noticing a funny green light collecting at the bottom of the trapdoor. Jack flung himself to the ground and shouted, "Get down!"

He covered his head with his hands and without hesitating we all did exactly the same. Seconds later there was a bang that shook the ground. When I looked up we were lying between the two houses on either side of Indigo's in a space not big enough for a horse, let alone a house.

"Where… Where did it all go?" I asked.

"It's still there," Jack shrugged. "Just closed."

I didn't have the energy to tell him that none of that made sense.


	36. Legends

I immediately disposed of my foul-smelling 'gift' from Indigo, dropping it into a big, heavy chest in the depths of the hull where nobody could possibly smell it. The smell must have been appalling, for even Jack didn't comment on it; then again he was so used to bad smells that he actually liked the smell of Tortuga. I wondered what on earth she had given me and what I could possibly need it for. '_In case the men take leave of their senses' _she had said. It wasn't a very comforting notion, the thought of every single man on board getting even more insane than they already were. I hoped that I would never, ever, ever have to find out what was in it.

Jack took care of everything that Indigo had given him, filing them away in various locked drawers. The one thing he didn't take care of, however, was the book. It was bound in leather and very old, the cover looked newer than the yellowing pages suggested the book was. There was no title, so I assumed that it was not the original cover. I ignored it for a few days, waiting to see if Jack would pick it up at any point. Surely he would have to; Indigo gave us it for a reason. When he did not I took it for myself. Jack didn't even notice it was missing. I opened it to the first page, the inside title page; _'The Legends of a Lost People'._ Underneath the printed title someone had written '_Aquæ istæ__ animam __refov__e' _in long spidery handwriting… I had no idea what it meant but I stared at it for a long time wondering how significant it was. When my hopeless staring gave me no answers I began to read the introduction;

'_The modern world is not as forward thinking as it would have us believe. We are straying too far from our natural path and the Ways of Old are being forgotten. There was a time when humans were completely at one with the world and each other, but now there seems to be a rush to outgrow it. The Magic of the world is dying; there is no hope of saving it from the limitations of science. However, legend has it that there was a plan in place to preserve our Magic. The Triangle was created in 9 000 BC to protect everything that the native peoples held dear.' _

Was this the Triangle that Indigo had mentioned? The place with shifting horizons? Was this where the Fountain was supposed to be?

_The boundaries stretched from the bottom of Florida, along to Puerto Rico, up to Bermuda and back down to Florida. It was to be a place where all the magic of the world was kept safe, where nothing New Age would work properly, not even a compass. It isn't known whether or not the plan worked, or if it was even real but the story goes that the Carib tribe leaders had a disagreement over who would guard all this magic. Eventually, there was a vote which the __Atlantean__s won due to their numerical strength and powerful influence over the other Caribbean tribes. They were a proud and advanced race of peoples with undeniable talent in the Magic Arts. The Triangle was created around the island of Atlantis, so that the Atlanteans could forever guard it._

Atlantis? I had heard tale of that before… A great city, lost to the seas. Or perhaps just a myth? I dimly remember someone telling me, perhaps my mother when I was little. That Atlantis had been full of wonderful and precious things. But it was just a story, told to send me to sleep and leave me with amazing dreams of a Lost City. I shuddered, guessing that the rest of the introduction would be about the fall Atlantis. I was right.

_Not everyone was happy with the decision and there was a conspiracy against the Atlanteans and all they watched over. Once the magic of the world had been poured into the Triangle and every creature with any magic within it had been safely contained there, the jealous Caribs used their last ounces of magic to drown Atlantis, thinking that if the island were gone then someone else would get guardianship. But when the island sank, their access to the Triangle disappeared with it. It is thought that the Atlanteans managed to hide themselves at the last second, and are still out there, concealed from the world that betrayed them. Others say that they protected themselves with some kind of incantation that protects them from the waters around them; they are sunk, but still living in the very depths of the ocean. If they are still living, deep beneath the waves, what kind of state is the Great City in now? And are the people angry? They will have changed, being cut off from the outside world for so long, but given some of the inhuman influence around them, will the Atlanteans still be recognisably human? Nobody has found them, so nobody has ever found out and perhaps they are best left undisturbed. Or perhaps there is nothing left to disturb. Maybe they all died and the secrets died with them. _

_One thing is for sure, whether the Atlanteans are drowned, living a half-life under the waters or merely hiding from the untrained eye, the Triangle will be a dangerous place. With no order, no rules, no guardians. It will be a place of wild savagery beyond the imagination of any human. Those searching for the Old Magic lost to the ocean will face perils unheard of in the New World._

I shuddered again. What had Jack got us in for?

* * *

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	37. Enemy Sails

"I still think…"

"For the _last _time, we are not calling our baby Rum or anything else you've suggested that is even remotely ridiculous!" I snapped.

There was a short silence, during which I glared at the floor, my arms folded awkwardly over my baby-bump. It was uncomfortable and starting to get in the way of everything I did. Stupid, stupid thing. And it would only get bigger. "Well…" Jack muttered. "_Someone_'s clearly slap-bang in the middle of a mood swing."

I glared at him. If I was having a mood swing, it was his fault for getting me pregnant in the first place. "Shut up," I said and lay back down onto the bed I'd been sitting on. I closed my eyes. I felt him sit down beside me. "Go away," I said without opening my eyes or moving from my position.

"Fine," he sighed and the mattress creaked as he stood up again. He went away. Even though it was what I'd asked him to do, it annoyed me. I sat up and looked around. He was sitting at his desk pretending not to be watching me. I stood up and grabbed a book.

"Have you read this?" I asked him, thumping it down on the desk.

"Eh, yeah…" he said, rather unconvincingly. I raised an eyebrow. He widened his eyes. "What? I have! I've had it for _years_! Honestly, Belle do you seriously think I would… why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because this is the book we got from Indigo _two _weeks ago."

"Oh." He looked sheepish. "So, I've not had it for years, then."

"No." I said tersely. "You haven't. And you haven't read it either, have you?"

"No," he admitted after a moment of squirming under my glare. I nodded.

"I knew it." I could see him physically trying to stop himself from rolling his eyes. He looked annoyed. Good. "Don't you think you should have?"

"I thought I'd just skim it…" he said. I sighed.

"You _can't _just skim it! It's important."

"_You've _read it?" Jack asked.

"Not all of it, but enough."

He brightened. "Oh, good. Now I don't have to."

"What? How did you reach that conclusion?"

"Well, you can just take us through it," he shrugged. "No point in both of us reading it." I clenched my jaw. His smile faded and he recoiled a little. I slammed my fist down on it.

"No. No, I can't just 'take you through it'. _You're _the Captain, _you _should know what we're up against."

He looked at me in that way he does when he's trying to decide just how angry I am and whether or not he can get away with a joke or two. I hoped for his sake that he'd realise he couldn't. Just as he was about to say something the door opened and Gibbs popped his head round. "Sorry to interrupt," he said. "But, eh… I think we're there."

Jack sprang up. My heart jumped. We were there? _Already? _But it had only been two weeks since we'd left Indigo's. I know it sounds long, but it didn't feel it. I didn't feel ready. We weren't ready. We weren't even close to ready. I wished I had had more warning. I grabbed the book, it made me feel that tiny bit safer, before I followed Jack and Gibbs out of the Cabin and onto the deck.

It was absolutely boiling, at a temperature that, with no wind, is incredibly uncomfortable. And there was not even a whisper to be felt. It had been a slow days' travel because of it, but here we were sure enough. Lined up with Bermuda. I scanned the sea for any visible sign of the Triangle, the border between our world and a completely different one, but of course there was nothing. The crew looked around uncertainly.

"You're sure this is it?" Ragetti asked. "Are we in the right place? How do we know this is where is anyway?"

Jack rolled his eyes and pointed as the faint mass of land in the distance. "Is that or is it not Bermuda?" he asked. Ragetti nodded.

"It is."

"Then where else are we supposed to find the Bermuda Triangle if not near _Bermuda_?"

Ragetti was silent, the concentration screwing up his face. Jack moved on, going back into the Cabin and coming out with the tiny glass bottle of purple-red liquid that Indigo had given us. I knew what it was now. He went and held it over the rail. He hesitated as a silence fell over everyone. I could hear their nerves crackling along with my own.

"How much do you reckon I should put in?" he asked. I knew the answer, but I wasn't going to tell him. He should have read the bloody book.

"All of it?" said Pintel.

"Aye, best to be safe than sorry," Gibbs agreed.

"No!" I snapped before he could tip the bottle. I cursed everything I could think of for breaking the vow of silence I had so recently made, but he was about to make a mistake that would affect everyone. "We need it to get back out again. One drop will do."

"You're an angel," he winked and in my head I swore in his patronising face. He took out the miniature cork and stretched his hand out over the sea.

"Cap'n!" Gibbs said and the warning tones in his voice told us all to look. He was looking out to sea. "White sails, headin' this way."

He pulled out an eyeglass which I snatched from him immediately, my heart in my mouth. I looked at the ship through it and almost choked. "It's not that ship you should be worried about," said Marty, looking at the one on the other horizon. I had to disagree with him.

"What is it?" Jack asked, not clarifying which of us he was talking to.

"George," I said.

"Blackbeard," Marty muttered.

I wasn't sure which name filled me with the most dread. I turned back to Jack, sure that now there was no way that he was planning on-

Too late.

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	38. Beneath the Surface

**Sorry if you got a thousand notifications about this, but Fanfic seemed to be having a fit at the moment.  
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He tipped the bottle and one drop of the purple-red liquid fell through the air to the waves below. There was an immediate flash of red and the _Pearl_ jolted forwards and down. My head spun as everything went out of focus for a second. The sea swirled in different shades of purple for a moment before dissolving into a rich blue. The horizon around us was empty; both ships that had been heading towards us had evaporated.

"Jack," I fumed. "What the _hell _did you do that for?"

He widened is eyes in an attempt to look as innocent as possible. There were many things my husband was, but innocent was seldom one of them. "To get away from them. Which is what we wanted was it not?"

"Can they follow us?" Marty asked, looking terrified. Jack shrugged.

"Possibly, if they have some of this stuff from Indigo," he shook the bottle at us. I relaxed.

"Well, surely Indigo wouldn't give any to them after giving it to us… she's on our side, isn't she?" I doubted myself after studying Jack's expression.

"Indigo doesn't have a side. Indigo just… _is,_" he said as if that was any kind of explanation.

"Is what?" I asked.

"Is Indigo."

This was making no sense. I shook my head, "So… she could have given them some?"

He nodded, "Yes, if they came looking for it."

"Then what did you _do? _You know they'll only follow us in," I took a step towards him and I could see him physically trying to stop himself from taking one backwards. "Or if they don't have any they'll just wait for us to come out."

"Well… if they do come in we'll be _much _further ahead of them, love, and by the time they _do _catch up we'll have found the Fountain and they won't be able to stop us."

"Um… Captain… "Gibbs cut in. We both looked at him. It was the first time I had noticed how odd the lighting was here. The lights twist and shimmered on Gibbs's face. He kept glancing upwards. High above our heads was a layer of sea water about three feet thick. Dark shapes swam above us, but they were too far above for me to work out what they were. There was a moment of silence. Everyone was looking up. I could almost taste the uncertainty and apprehension.

"What the…" I breathed.

"Where are we?" Ragetti asked in a small voice. "What's… up there?"

"That up there is the New World, our world, "Jack muttered with distaste. "That's what's up there. The world that sees things the way they appear and seldom looks at the magic beneath the surface."

"That still doesn't answer the question of where we actually _are_," said Gibbs tentatively.

"Beneath the surface," Jack replied simply.

"What if it… falls down on us?" Pintel asked. It was a fair point and I felt the panic rise.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Impossible."

"And where are we headed?" Gibbs pressed, as the rest of us exchanged nervous glances. Jack shrugged. I almost hit him. I probably should have. He saw the look I was giving him.

"I'll check the Charts," he said, pulling them out. The crew were still looking terrified and glanced upwards at the layer of sea which was miles above us and stretched out to the edge of the horizon, much like the sky did normally. I watched Jack twist the Charts. He frowned and looked up. "According to this, we have to sail into The Abyss."

The word sent a shiver up my spine. Gibbs paled. "We can't do that, Cap'n… that's….impossible..."

"I wish you lot would stop using that word," Jack huffed. "We're in a place where anything impossible in the New World is possible, but some things that are possible up there are impossible down here, except from those things that are possible in both places… savvy?"

"No… no, not really…" Pintel frowned. I rolled my eyes.

"Hang on," I said and went and got the copy of '_The Legends of a Lost People'. _"This might have a better explanation."

"Doubt it," Jack huffed. I shot him a deadly look as I flicked through.

"_There are two types of Laws in the world- the Laws of Science and the Laws of Magic_," I read aloud. "_The two often conflict and can rarely co-exist, with the Laws of Magic being far more complex and changing than those of Science. Science limits Magic, but in the Triangle- where Magic rules- the Laws of Science are completely redundant and things that according to Science cannot exist or happen will be prevalent. Things created by the Laws of Science will cease to function properly in the Triangle, so that the Magic will be kept safe. The Triangle of Bermuda protects the Magic to such an extent that often things from the New World will disappear when sailing through it. In order to reduce the threat of Science things or people that enter from the New World will age more quickly and-"_

I stopped and looked up. I felt ill. Jack frowned at me, "What? What's wrong?"

I stared back down at the page willing it to be some kind of joke, perhaps something I had imagined. But no, there it was, plain as day. I picked up from where I'd left off, "-_and one day inside the Triangle will be the equivalent to one month outside of it and things from the New World will age accordingly."_

I stopped again and looked at Jack. He still hadn't got it. He still didn't understand. "So what? The Fountain of Youth will make us _immortal_. What difference does losing a few months make?"

"Jack… I'm pregnant."

"I know this."

"I'm _three months _pregnant."

"I know this too."

"Our baby is due in _six months_." I said. He nodded, not quite seeing where I was going with this. "For every day I'm down here my body will age a month."

"Yes…?"

How the _hell _had he not got this yet?

"Jack… Down here… our baby is due in six days."

"Fuck."

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	39. Shadows

**I am unbelievably excited about On Stranger Tides! Unforuntately because of exams I can't see it untill Friday, so if any of you have seen it don't ruin it for me. I'm one of those people who hates spoliers.**

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There was a silence. Nobody quite knew how to respond to this. Jack just stared at me with an open mouth. Neither of us knew what to say. Nobody on board did. My heart was thumping. It looked like I was going to have a baby _here_. Right in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle. Unless we could get out of it in six days. Jack was pale, very pale, which didn't make me feel any more comfortable.

"What are we going to do?" I heard Gibbs ask. He sounded distant and far away. It was sweet of him to care about the wellbeing of Jack's and my baby. Jack just shook his head, words were failing him for the first time. Everyone was looking to him for guidance.

"Leave," said Jack finally. There was a collective sigh. It sounded more like relief than disappointment. I was also relieved for a second but then my heart sank.

"I don't think we can," I muttered dismally.

"What?" Jack frowned.

"Don't forget who's potentially waiting for us out there," I pushed my hair out of my eyes. "Blackbeard. George. They're both out there. We can't go back."

"But we _can't _go _forward_," Gibbs's face flushed with stress.

"Well we can't stay in the same place!" Ragetti muttered, glancing at the roof of water.

"It'll have to be forward," said Jack. "As quickly as possible. If we can reach the Fountain within six days we'll be alright." Gibbs started to protest, but Jack cut him off. "If we go back out and run into those ships waiting for us we don't stand much of a chance. Our only option is to continue with all haste. Come on!" He looked round at his crew; they started moving slowly, like a convict awaiting his death sentence. "SNAP TO AND MAKE SAIL!" Jack bellowed and they sprang into action. He turned to me, "I'm so sorry Belle, and I should have listened to you. I should have waited until after the baby came."

I shrugged, "Not much we can do about it now." I didn't bother pointing out that in his crazed state for immortality he wouldn't have paid much attention if I had mentioned this beforehand. He looked sorry enough. He opened his mouth in what looked like was going to be another apology, seems like he didn't believe my forgiveness, but I cut him off and moved off the topic. "If we're going to get there quickly we're going to have to know what we're up against. I don't much like the sound of the Abyss."

I flicked through the book. I knew I had already read the chapter on the Abyss, but I couldn't remember exactly what it said. A quick scan of the pages refreshed me enough to put the fear of God back into me. Jack saw me pale, "What? What is it?"

"What was that thing that Indigo said about shadows?" I asked, trying to stop my voice from quaking as much as my hands. Jack shrugged.

"Nothing, she just gave us something for them."

"Go and get it," I said quietly. He nodded and disappeared into his cabin. I could see the crew glancing over at me, trying to figure out what was going wrong. I went into the Cabin and shut the door behind me. He looked up from the drawers.

"I've got it," he said quietly as I sat down. I relaxed a little bit when I saw that small white bag Indigo had given us. "What do we do with it?"

"Burn it," I replied. "The second it starts to get dark, we have to line the ship with it and stay in the light at all times."

"Why?"

I took a deep breath, "Because here, the shadows are living."

"_Living_?" he repeated. I could tell he wasn't sure whether or not to believe me. "How can they be living?"

I looked down at the book. It was a long passage, one he probably couldn't be bothered to sit through if I just read it to him, so I decided just to lift the important parts and sum it up. "You know how, at one point in your life at least, you're afraid of the dark?"

It was a rhetorical question but one he took it upon himself to answer anyway. "_I _am not afraid of anything, love. Especially not something as harmless as the dark."

"It's not _completely _harmless, Jack," I said and looked back down at the book. "Everyone is scared of the dark at some point in their lives. Usually it's something you outgrow from childhood. But have you never wondered _why_ we all have this common fear?" He didn't answer, but I hadn't expected him to. I had his attention now and that was all I needed. "It's borne out of an instinct we all have. All of us, every last one, are born with this primal instinct that the dark is dangerous. And that's because at one point it was. Before they managed to trap it here in the Triangle, the darkness was feared by all because of the number of lives it took. There's something that lives in the shadows, Jack. The fear we have of the dark usually leaves us because outside the Triangle the thing in the shadows is dormant, it's asleep. But not here. Here it's still living. And potentially killing."

Jack frowned. I could see that he was trying to wrap his head around it. "Right…" he said slowly. "So, what do we do when it gets dark?"

"I _think _the bag that Indigo gave us should have a black powder in it that will make the candles burn twice as bright as normal."

He was suddenly bright and business-like. He peered into the bag. "In that case we'll set them up on deck and we'll all just have to stay there because there's not very much powder in here and I don't know how long it's going to have to last us."

I nodded, feeling nervous and slightly sick. I was also unsure of what to expect when night came. If we were wrong about this, we ran the risk of completely wasting what Indigo had given us. If we were right... one step into the dark could kill us all.

Jack lit the candles as the sun was setting and everyone huddled up on deck. Not everyone believed us when we told them that the dark was dangerous, but they followed orders nonetheless. Every lantern and candle was brought onto the deck. Some were fixed to the railings, others just placed on the floor nearby to give as even a spread of light as possible.

When darkness did, eventually begin to creep in, I thought that it was a different kind of darkness than I was used to. It seemed much more solid. Despite the brightness of our candles the light did not really penetrate the darkness outside of our safe area. Once or twice I thought I saw something move. After an hour or so of tense sitting around people began to relax and fall asleep. I rested my head on Jack and went to close my eyes. Then I realised something. "I can't see the stars," I said quietly. People looked up but made no comment. Gibbs crossed himself.

"This is rubbish," a voice grumbled from somewhere to my right. "I don't believe a word of this. It's uncomfortable and boring and I'm going for a proper night's kip in my bunk. You're superstitious, gullible idiots, the lot of you!"

There were general grumbles of agreement from some. Many died down after and icy stare from Jack. The man who had spoken, a pirate who had signed up in Tortuga called Geoff, stood up and looked around at us all. "Will you be taking a light with you?" Jack asked, calmly.

"No," he shook his head. "I can find my way in the dark by myself thank you."

I watched him walk away, tried to warn him to reconsider but he just sneered at me. I did notice him hesitate briefly before he stepped opened the door and went below deck. The light nearest the door flickered. A bloodcurdling scream rang out.


	40. The Dangers of the Dark

As the scream faded to nothing I sat up and stared at the door. Everyone was fully awake and alert now. For a moment nobody spoke, they just listened. Nobody moved and I held my breath. Silence. The candle flickered again and people jumped away from it, towards the lights that remained steady. There was a nervous exchange of glanced. Then from below deck we heard someone moan in pain. "He's alive," I stood up. Jack stood up quickly behind me.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Well we have to find him! He's still down there."

"Yes, we do need to find him. You, however, need to stay here." Jack pushed past me.

"_Why?_" I said indignantly, although I knew the answer. Time moved differently here and my pregnancy was growing with it. We'd been here a day and because my body had aged a month, so I was now very obviously four months pregnant. In five days I'd be due. I tried not to let it phase me; I knew I needed to relax because stress is incredibly bad for a growing baby.

"Belle. Don't argue with me," he muttered. "For _once_ just do as you're told and let me worry about you, love."

I looked at him. I wanted to argue out of principle but I knew that he might have a point. It wasn't just my own safety I had to worry about. Jack had drawn his sword; my heart went suddenly icy with fear. I didn't want him to go. Not headlong into something we knew so little about and something that had caused another crew member the level of pain that had caused him to cry out. I couldn't help but feel that his sword wouldn't do him much good.

"Take some lights," I said. "Make sure you are completely covered and don't go alone."

He nodded, grateful that I had decided against arguing… in five days' time I was going to argue the ears off him… just to show him. Cotton and Marty volunteered to go with him, largely because of the look I gave them when they hesitated. The each took a lamp and held it above their heads, bathing their bodies in light. We reduced the size of our safe circle of light in order for them to take a few lamps. "Right lads," Jack nodded to them. "Don't let any part of you touch the shadows."

They both nodded. And, with the lights held above them, they moved slowly into the shadows towards the door. When Jack opened the door to the galley the pitch black darkness seemed to radiate out from the doorway. The powder Indigo had given us had made the lights a blinding white, but as they moved into the darkness the light didn't seem to do very much. It covered them, but only just enough. They left the door open in the hope that light from where we were would shine down. Everyone sat and watched all signs of them disappear. I shuddered and listened intently. I was so busy listening that I didn't notice the changes until Ragetti pointed a shaking finger towards the doorway. It was still completely dark; the signs of light that had been emanating from their lamps had disappeared as they'd gone down into the galley. But something was wrong with the darkness. It was creeping forwards. The shadows were spilling out of the doorway and seeping forwards like a thick liquid that had been spilt on the decking. Without taking our eyes from it everyone moved backwards.

"What do we do?" Gibbs looked at me. He was whispering. If it could move, could it hear? I shrugged, shaking and listening for Jack. There was no sign of them from down below. One of the candles nearest the expanding darkness was one without any of the powder in it. A few, thin fingers of darkness coiled round it like wisps of smoke. They thickened, spindles of darkness branched off and started intertwining with each other, spreading out until they covered the entire candlestick was covered. Just the flame burned weakly. It flickered once. Twice. Then slowly it just faded away, swallowed by the darkness. Everyone shrank back from it, glued to what we were seeing with a horrible fascination.

"Jack," I called uncertainly, my voice shaking a little beyond my control. The dark continued to spill out towards us. "Jack!" I called again, louder than before. I was suddenly terrified for him. If it could put out a candle, I wondered how safe he was. I wanted him back now where it was safer. Or at least… _safer_.

"Isabel…" Gibbs whispered. I took my eyes from the dark space where the candle flame had once been and looked at him. His stare was fixed on something behind us. I looked. The darkness was closing in there as well, only not as quickly. There was one other candle which we had not put Indigo's powder in and the dark, smoky fingers were beginning to coil around it. It didn't seem to be able to get past the light coming from the brighter candles, but it seemed to be trying its best. It would look as if it were about to break through our barrier of light, the candle would then flash suddenly bright and the darkness would leap back only to creep in again. I looked up, the darkness above our heads was like a solid roof. I wondered what would happen if I touched it, but I didn't dare. I heard footsteps on the stairs. Jack, Marty and Cotton were all back, looking ashen-faced and pale. After stepping back into the circle of light, they put their lamps down, chasing some of the dark away.

"Burned alive," Jack was solemn. Everyone looked at him as he sat down. No sooner had he said this than there was a sudden yelp of pain. As Marty had been sitting down again he had lent back on his hands and accidently put his fingers down in the darkness. He slipped suddenly, as if pulled by some unseen force until his arm was completely in the shadows. His eyes almost popped out of his head and his face twisted in fear. I grabbed his leg and others around him sprang into action. I could feel something incredibly strong trying to pull him from my grip. He was screaming. Cotton moved one of the lamps to shine a light over Marty's arm and he was suddenly free. He scrambled back, panting. Smoke rose up from his right arm, the flesh of which was sizzling and burnt.

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	41. Faces of Stone

**So... verdicts on Pirates 4 now it's finally here? :D I loved it xD**

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Marty's burnt and blackened arm was bound as quickly as possible in a makeshift bandage torn from a strip of his shirt. He was in obvious pain and would need to be seen to in the safety of the daylight. But by the time that it was light Marty's body had aged sufficiently enough for it to be almost healed. His skin was left partially disfigured and horribly scarred, but because of our bodies ageing quickly we hadn't had enough time to limit the damage. It had been excruciatingly painful throughout most of the night but by the time the sun had come up it was far less painful for him to move. I was also ridiculously pregnant looking compared to how I had been the other day, so much so that it scared me. Everything was moving so fast and in five days' time Jack and I would have a baby. A _real _baby.

Shit.

Judging by his expression Jack was feeling more or less the same as I was, only less pregnant.

Daylight showed us that we were not in the same place we had been when darkness had fallen, far from it. The horizon was gone and replaced by stone walls that were almost within touching distance if I leaned far enough over the rail, but rose high up into the air and arched over as if they had once touched to form a roof that had caved in over the passing of time. I was glad it had. Darkness terrified me now, and the thought of another night in this place drove a sheet of icy fear right through me. Surely the days would be better. My hands shook as I rested them on the rail. I looked over the side. The water beneath the surface was completely still. It was not just like the stillness of the sea on a calm day, but more as if the surface of the sea was made entirely of glass. The Pearl glided smoothly through it, leaving no wake or sign that we had been there. There were no waves to slap against the hull, or sound of gulls far above us. The stillness, although it was calming, was also incredibly creepy and unnatural.

The morning went well. It was uneventful, but after what we had been through 'uneventful' did not bore us and in fact came as a welcome break. We saw many sights that were both beautiful and strange, but they did not interfere with us. We were in a whole new world, and not everything in this world was a danger to us. Not everything noticed us or saw our presence as a threat. High in the sky above us flew strange looking birds, they were too far away to see any details, but I could tell that they were huge. They were far bigger than any bird I'd ever encountered back home. They had long tails that swept out behind them as they flew, beating huge bat-like wings, but their bodies were more like a lizard's. I saw several pass by overhead but they never paid us any attention.

The walls on either side of us were not the man-made kind built from brick, but looked more natural, like the walls of a cave, made all from the same sheet of rock and covered with imperfections. At points the marks and imperfections on the walls looked like a face and as the light of the morning got gradually brighter I saw that was indeed what they were. Faces, etched into the rock with their eyes carved shut. As the sun rose to the middle of the sky we came to a place where the route split in two. The Charts told us to take a left. The right looked darker and uninviting, so I was glad we weren't going down there. I felt myself relax. Perhaps today wouldn't be so bad.

"What's that?" Jack whispered, suddenly standing up. His eyes were odd. They had brightened, but not in the same way that they did when he was having on of his ingenious ideas (which were usually only ingenious to him). It was more… unnatural. Maybe I was reading too much into this.

"What's what?" I looked around for anything out of the ordinary.

"That noise…" he whispered. Why was he whispering? I listened. I couldn't head anything.

"That's silence, Jack," I smiled. "I know it's unusual for you to-"

"Ssh!" he snapped at me and shot me a glare. I was a little taken aback. I looked around again. The crew had all stopped what they were doing and were looking in the same direction as Jack. I listened again. Nothing.

"Jack, should we not be turning off now?" I said, feeling a shiver pass up my spine for no apparent reason. I waited for him to respond. He didn't. "Jack…"

Jack took a step away from me, towards the direction he was looking in. His footsteps were heavy, dragging along the ground. I called his name again. This time there was no response. I looked around and almost cried out in fear. The carvings on the walls- the unmoving, sleeping faces- had opened their eyes. Real, human eyes. Staring out of the wall. They were silently staring in the direction that Jack and the rest of the crew were looking in.

It was then that I heard it. A sound so faint it was just a hiss. I shivered uncontrollably and looked for the source. It grew louder and I saw it was coming from the right-hand fork. The place the entire crew was moving towards. The sound burned my ears. I clamped my hands over them and screamed out for Jack. He didn't turn. He didn't even flinch. The Pearl had come to a stop. She stayed still at the fork in the road. Like she was waiting for someone to tell her what to do. The one person who should be telling her what to do, her Captain, seemed completely oblivious to the outside world and my terrified screams for him. My heart was racing. It seemed by some sick turn of events that I was completely on my own with this one. What was going on? What had gotten in to everyone? Had they all gone mad?

In the darkness of the passage to our right three figures began to emerge. Three women. Three inhuman women with glowing amber eyes and skin that was tinted green. They seemed to be able to glide across the glassy water we were sailing on. Their mouths were open in that never-ending, painful hiss. Behind their thick red lips I could see teeth so sharp they shone. They all had long, matted dark hair that was dripping with something. At first I thought it was water, but as I looked closer, with growing horror, I saw that the droplets of liquid that rolled down their skin was red. Their hair was dripping with blood. Human blood.

I looked one last time at Jack. I knew there was no point in calling him again. He'd never hear me over the women. He was still moving slowly towards them. I stood in front of him, but he couldn't seem to see me. His eyes had gone cold and his face expressionless. Like the living dead. Or as if he was carved out of rock.

I shuddered as I thought of the faces behind me. Somehow I had to stop Jack and the others from becoming one of them.

I ran to the wheel. If I could turn before they got here, sail down the safer passage, maybe we'd be safe. I started to turn it and heard one of the creatures shriek. Strong, cold hands grabbed me around the waist and pushed me away with such force that I fell to the ground with a thud that winded me. I looked up, catching my breath. Jack had been the one who had pushed me. I ran at him. He whipped around before I got there. I saw his eyes flash amber before he lashed out. He pushed me towards the rail. I tried to push back but he was strong. He backed me up against the railing. His eyes were blank. I shouted out to him, screaming for a hint of recognition to stop him from pushing me overboard. He kept pushing. I heard a deep crack and looked behind me to see and arm made of rock reaching out towards me from the wall. The nearest face had become twisted and disfigured with hatred for me. Its mouth was opened impossibly wide. Jack kept pushing me towards him. I gripped on to the railings and kicked him with all my might. He let go and stumbled backwards.

"Sorry Jack," I muttered as I ran past him. "Nothing personal."

I gripped onto the wheel again. There was another shriek and this time the whole crew turned to look at me. Had _all _of them gone mad?

All of them.

But not me.

All the _men._

Gone mad. Taken leave of their senses.

Idigo's words seemed to bounce off the walls;

'_In case the men take leave of their senses.'_

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	42. Lucky to Have a Woman Aboard

The crew began to advance towards me as the shrieking got louder. These women wanted me away from the wheel. Not only that but they would probably be far happier if I was dead too. How did they have such control over the men but not me? I had only once heard of creatures like them. Sirens, I believe they were called. I had never thought that they were real until now.

The crew were walking pretty slowly, dragging their feet as if they were made of stone, but they were moving with frightening determination. Their eyes were glassy and without one spark of humanity. I had to get down to the hull. I made for the stairs. Too late. The crew were already on them on their stead march towards me. I backed up and bolted towards the other set of stairs. I was about halfway down when I realised that I wouldn't be able to get past where they swarmed at the bottom. I turned around. Jack stood behind me. He reached out for me. I was trapped… unless.

I slammed both hands down on the banister and pushed off with all my might. There were a few second of terrifying free-fall during which I braced myself for my landing. My feet hit the deck a split second before my hands did. Pain shot through my ankles and wrists, I winced but I pushed myself forwards because I knew that every second I had was precious. I was positive that I had jarred several bones in my hands and feet, but after a moment or two of running the pain seemed to lessen. I cursed myself for not keeping Indigo's foul-smelling 'gift' closer to hand. Instead I had concealed it deep inside the hull of the ship and didn't have long to retrieve it.

_If I survive this the first thing I'm doing is tidying up this bloody ship._

The amount of clutter down here was beyond ridiculous and they served no use other than unhelpful hurdles for me to leap over or dodge in order to get to where I needed to be. It got darker as I descended but there was no time for me to light a candle. I stumbled through the dark and felt my way towards a large wooden chest that was pushed up against the wall. The lid creaked open and the second it did I knew that I had found the right chest. That unforgettable stench from inside was either something dead and decaying or the package from Indigo. I snatched it up and ran.

As I nearer the bottom of the galley stairs the ship tipped slightly. Something rolled in front of me and I tripped. My hands gripped onto Indigo's gift, leaving me nothing to save myself with. I slammed against the floor and was winded for a second. I looked back. It was Jack's biggest telescope.

_If we survive I'm making Jack tidy his own bloody ship…_

I pulled myself up and ran on, up the stairs. I burst through the doors onto the deck, retching from the smell and wincing at the harsh shrieking from the unearthly women. I ripped open the bag Indigo had given me and gagged so violently it made me drop it all on the deck. The small black bag burst open. The smell was so strong it almost knocked me off my feet. The air around it was suddenly dark and cloudy from a strange purple dust that rose out of the little black bag. I stumbled backwards, covering my nose and mouth, I ran to the wheel. Men close the bag stopped moving. Then suddenly they began to drop to the ground. They lay motionless where they had fallen. The cloud of purple dust was spreading fast. I looked at the air around me and noticed that it wasn't a dust that had come from the bag at all, but strange tiny insects with delicate ragged wings. The shrieking had stopped. The Siren's faces were twisted in ugly horror as the insects began to swarm around them. I noticed their skin start to peel away from their flesh and I looked away. I held my breath and used both hands to steer the ship towards the left-hand passage, away from the sirens. I was going to have to breathe in at some point, there wasn't much longer I could hold my breath. Beside me, Jack dropped to the ground. I rolled him over. He was breathing, seemingly just asleep. I let myself breathe in. The smell made me feel nauseous but not drowsy. Every man on board was asleep and now it seemed that the swarm of insects was concentrating their energy on the Sirens. I stood by the wheel, as the _Pearl _turned agonisingly slowly down the safe passage. The further away we got the clearer our air seemed to get.

I looked back. The Sirens had been completely hidden by the swarm that seemed to be devouring them like piranhas.

The sudden silence was eerie. Everyone on board was asleep on the deck and now the shrieking had stopped I felt so alone. I was scared. When you're in danger and you have to fight for yourself, or for someone you love, it is far less scary than being on your own. Fighting gives you something to distract from the fear. Loneliness is no kind of distraction at all. I prayed that they would wake up. I couldn't go on listening to the sound of my own terrified heartbeat.

I walked around trying to gently wake a few of them up, but to no avail. I consulted the book that Indigo had given us. I was right about them being Sirens. The book said that their song was only enchanting to men and the only way they could resist it was if they were put into a deep sleep. One deeper that could be achieved naturally. The insects Indigo had given us were called the Violaceus, who gave off a strong smell that put any male into a deep sleep and went on to feed on the flesh of Sirens. The book said nothing about how to wake them up again.

In my desperation I went back to the bag. Something shiny nearby caught my eye. A small brass whistle was laying on the deck and beside it a note that read '_Well done Isabel, this is to give the men back their senses.'_ Had Indigo known _everything _that was going to happen? I tentatively picked it up; looking behind me I couldn't even see the place where the Sirens had been so I guessed we were at a safe enough distance. They were probably dead already. I raised it to my lips and blew once. I heard nothing but the men around me stirred. I blew again, sustaining it this time and they all began to stretch and wake up, a look of confusion passed over them all as they saw that they were waking up on deck.

From behind me came the sound of thousands of tiny wings beating, a low buzz. The swarm, on hearing the whistle call, came flying back and packed themselves neatly back into their small black bag, which sealed itself. The crew were on their feet. I put the whistle back in the bag and looked at them all.

"Isabel…" Jack said groggily, stumbling towards me. "What in the name of buggeration is going on?"

"You don't remember?" I asked. The crew all shook their heads, looking around at each other and then back at me.

"Sirens," I said, many of them paled. A ripple went round them all as they muttered the names of the creatures in disbelief.

"Didn't they have an effect on you?" someone called.

"Course not, she's a women!" another replied before I had the chance.

"Lucky you were here, Isabel," Gibbs looked shaky.

"Yes, Master Gibbs," I said sweetly. "It was lucky you had a woman aboard now, wasn't it?"


	43. Kicks

The current took us further down the passage. There wasn't much for any of us to do as it seemed there was only one direction we could travel in, which was just as well since most of the men needed time to recover from the Sirens. Everyone was far more wary of our surroundings than we had been previously. When we saw long lines of white flowers, growing in vines up the sides of the passages, seemingly giving out soft music instead of a scent, nobody even dared to touch them. They did not even swat away the swarm of insects gathered around us at about midday, which on closer inspection looked as if they were more human-shaped than insect. A giant bird, far more magnificent than any I'd ever seen on Earth came and perched on the mast for a while. It stayed perfectly silent and just watched us all with beautifully intelligent eyes. It unnerved some of the crew but none of them dared to shoot at it like they would have if we had been back in our world. It looked about the size of a young child, with feathers in every shade of crimson and orange and a long hooked black beak. I could hear Gibbs muttering away and debating with himself about whether or not this strange new creature was a good or bad omen. It was a tense hour or two while it sat watching us, but I think it was just interested as after a while it flew off. A single red feather floated to the ground behind it from one of its great beating wings. We crowded round it. Pintel dared Ragetti to pick it up. He did so after much deliberation and declared that it was unnaturally warm.

As dusk came a large shape loomed out of the fading light. The passage was coming to the end and the stone face of Neptune rose out of the sea before us. The current flowed directly into his open mouth. I turned to Jack. He slipped an arm around my waist and pulled me closer. I felt scared again. I had been so worn out after the struggle with the Sirens that I had gone a bit numb. But now, with this stone giant towering above us, about to swallow us whole, my heart started to beat quickly. This journey was taking a lot out of me. I needed a rest, I needed a break. Something moved inside me. Literally. My baby was moving. I could feel it. I gasped.

"Belle?" Jack's dark eyes were concerned.

"The baby…" I murmured. I was so shocked and found the sensation so odd. It was unlike anything I'd ever felt. It was amazing but so strange.

"What? What?" Jack panicked. "Is it ok? It's not coming now is it? Oh God. Oh God. Bugger… What the-"

"No, no," I raised my hand to stop his constant stream of swearwords before it started. "It's not coming. It's kicking."

"Kicking what?" he frowned.

"Me."

"Do not kick your mother!" Jack shouted at my stomach. I almost laughed when I felt another defiant little kick from inside me. Even though I was sure it was either a co-incidence or just the baby reacting to its father's voice, the timing of it made me smile.

"It's a good thing, Jack," I smiled. "It's supposed to kick me. Shows it's alive. Come here…"

I took his hand and put it on my stomach. It rested there for a bit. He frowned at me, concentrating. Another kick and his eyes widened. I smiled at the look on his face and felt myself fill with happy warmth. For a moment, he was speechless. "That… it's… I… I mean it's… that…" he stammered. I laughed.

"I know," I said. "I know."

"But… it's…" His eyes were oddly bright.

"I know," I said again and reached up to kiss him. No words were needed. We had one second of bliss before the panic around us became too much to ignore. Still looking a bit dazed he took my hand. He was grinning in an infections way, I could tell by the nature of the smile it was something he couldn't have stopped if he'd wanted to.

"Well," he said. "Suppose we better let ol' Neptune swallow us up then, eh?"

Among the slight hysteria on board the ship I felt briefly calm and happy. Like I was floating a little bit above the ground, suspended by my own happiness, completely untouchable. The one look into the cavern we were sailing towards made me feel ill with fear. "Jack, it's dark in there."

It took him a moment to realise what I was getting at but the second he did he barked out the orders for the protective ring of light to be set up. It was completed just in time. We gathered in it as we reached the edge of the cavern. Darkness lay ahead, last night felt like it had been so long ago. It made me feel weary to think back to the morning. Everything around us was silent as the _Pearl _drifted into the cavern. We sailed between huge dome-shaped rocks that formed teeth in the mouth of this stone replica of Neptune. Every slight sound we made echoed to three of four times its usual volume. As we passed between two teeth light suddenly shot up from one of them, then the next one, then the next… until within seconds the whole mouth was being lit internally. We set about quickly putting our own candles out. We couldn't waste anything Indigo had given us. I did stop for a moment and wonder what the point in the lights was when there would be natural light coming in from outside. Then I turned to look behind us.

Neptune's giant stone lips were closing.

My hear started to beat really fast. I could see everyone else was tense too. Not that there was anything we could do about our situation. We stood helplessly, close together, as we were carried further in and further away from the outside. The place was dangerous. We were in a place where darkness could kill and stones could move.

I was suddenly very aware of my own mortality.

The _Pearl _came to a slow stop. We had run a ground. Slowly, tentatively, we all crept forward and peered over the side. His tongue. We had stopped on his big stone tongue. "Do we get out," someone managed to break out silence. Jack looked at the Charts.

"It's unclear..." he said eventually. "But I think so."

Before we ventured down I grabbed up everything Indigo had made us bring. Gibbs took the book in a bag because he was worried about me carrying a heavy object while pregnant. I almost hugged him. But he might not have liked that. We decided to go all together, nobody particularly wanted to stay behind. Some drew swords and pistols, more for comfort than anything else. We walked slowly across the rough stone until we reached the very end.

"What now?" Gibbs asked, looking down into darkness.

"I think," Jack gulped. "I think we jump."

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**Review please :) LV xx**


	44. Dark Shapes in Dark Waters

"Are you mad?" Gibbs turned to Jack. We all knew the answer to that. "You're not seriously considering jumping?"

Again, we all knew the same answer. He was. He was both mad and serious, which is never a comforting combination. There was a moment of silence. It was cold and uncomfortable. I felt uneasy. "Jack, it's dark down there," I said meaningfully. Everyone avoided looking at Marty's arm. He looked at the ground.

"Well… maybe it's not that far down…" even he didn't sound convinced. "If someone wants to just…"

He didn't finish what he was saying and unsurprisingly, nobody moved. Nobody said a word. The silence around us was unbearable. I looked around, first of all at the crew. Nobody was looking at anyone else. I then looked around. We were completely encased; there was no way for us to get out. I couldn't see the roof of the cavern, there were too many shadows. And the shadows were creeping downwards, slowly like when you spill thick ink on parchment. We had light, but I was beginning to doubt how long it would last. I wasn't the only one to have noticed this.

"Well we can't just _stand _here!" Gibbs exclaimed when the silence became too much. Jack nodded.

"Agreed… why don't _you_ just-"

**BOOM.**

Our surroundings shook like the outside had just taken a hit from something powerful. I heard something above us crumble. Tiny bits of stone began to rain down. There was a flash of light from the pit below.

"What in the name of all that is- "

Gibbs was drowned out by another boom. This time I watched as things crumbled down and noticed that the flash of light came _as _they were falling down the was safe. It was completely safe from the darkness. No sooner had we recovered from one thundering crash we were hit by another.

"Sounds like cannon fire!" Gibbs exclaimed. Just as he did so there was a loud creaking from all around and the sound of stones grating together. The giant stone mouth was slowly beginning to open up again. We stood, frozen as water crashed in and everything shook again. I could smell the gunpowder, see the flashes. Someone had caught up with us. My heart tightened in my chest, gripped by ice. Marty, being the smallest was the first to see the sails of the ship, while the rest of us could only see the hull. He paled.

"Blackbeard," he choked out.

"Jump!" I screamed immediately over the din. They all looked at me. "We have to jump!"

Without waiting for any of them to respond, I grabbed Jack's hand and jumped. The flash blinded me. I had about a second to regret jumping, another second to be thankful for Jack's solid hand and then we hit the water below.

It was boiling, but I had no time to react to it. My eyes were open and I could see the water around us was swirling and carrying us away from the surface at an increasing speed. I felt sick. The water burned me but I couldn't scream. I shut my eyes. I need air. If this was the end, it was my fault. I'd have killed everyone. 'I'm sorry,' I shouted in my head as if they'd all be able to hear me. I could only hope they hadn't jumped. Or that this would turn out to be the right thing to have done, but I was getting lightheaded. I wasn't sure how much longer I could hold on. My poor baby.

And then it was over.

I stopped spinning very suddenly. Maybe I was dead. I was cold now, that much I knew. Do the dead feel cold? Then I realised I could still feel Jack's hand in mine. He tugged on it. We were alive. I opened my eyes and took a welcome breath. We were floating side by side in a pool of freezing water, the stillest I'd ever seen. Around us I could hear the coughing and spluttering of the others. We were all here, and we were all safe and well. I immediately started shivering.

"We have… to… keep… w-w-w-warm," Jack's teeth knocked together as he spoke. "St-start swimming…"

I let go of Jack as we all began to swim towards the edges of the pool we had landed in. I was too cold to take in my surroundings. Too cold to talk. And evidently everyone else was too cold to scream. Nobody noticed the splash of someone disappearing below the surface because of the splashes we were all making as we swam. I only noticed because Jack was swimming so close to me. His head dipped beneath the surface and didn't come back up again I looked back at where he has been. Jack wasn't the only one missing. I looked down into the dark waters and saw Jack's distressed face looking up at me, sinking fast. And beneath the dark waters something darker moved.

I started splashing down towards Jack. What had happened to him? He was one of the best swimmers I knew. For a moment he was lost in the dark waters but then he shot back up towards me out of the gloom. I was so relieved that I let out all the air I had been holding in. Jack looked so scared. Then I saw why. Women with dark green skin, the colour and texture of algae, and scaly tales where their legs should be were swarming around us. Mermaids.

Jack and I kicked upwards. My head broke the surface and I choked down lungful's of air. A slimy hand grabbed my ankle and pulled me down with a ferocious strength. I kicked at the woman grabbing me with my free foot, twisting and turning in the water in an attempt to free myself from her iron grip. I looked towards the surface for hope and saw only Marty's short legs kicking freely. But not even he was safe for long.

I could see the glint of swords in the water as my companions attempted to fight for their lives. The water slowed their movements and the swords were rendered almost useless. A few managed to draw blood, but nothing life-saving was possible. Then I saw Gibbs. He was panicking and thrashing around. He'd forgotten about his bag. He'd forgotten that he was carrying the one thing that might save us. Our gifts from Indigo. She had known. She had known about this and somewhere in that bag was the small wooden box that might just save our lives. After all, Indigo hadn't been wrong yet. I changed tactics, instead of trying to swim _up _the way I started struggling towards Gibbs. The mermaid holding me was not expecting this. I swam as fast as I could towards Gibbs as she momentarily let go.

I grabbed his leg. Thinking I was another mermaid Gibbs swung his sword with great effort through the water. I swerved out of the way. It caught the bag. In his panic he tugged at it and the bag ripped. It was only a tiny tear, but it was big enough to let that small box of hope slide out.

I watched as our only chance began to sink like a stone.

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**Ooops, it appears we have a cliffhanger. Oh well :P  
**

**Please review, thanks :)  
LV xx  
**


	45. Mermaids

**Awrite lads and ladettes?**

**If any of you like Harry Potter (which if you don't you bloody well should) and fancy reading a fanfic about Snape's daughter head over to h t t p: / / wattpad .com/user/SleepySeverus (take out spaces where appropriate) My friend Sam's got a good one going and she's low on readers, so check that out if you like. If you don't that's cool obviously, I know it's quite an effort seeing as it's not even on this site and this one is CLEARLY superior. **

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Gibbs saw his mistake and started to panic, thrashing around in the water. I did the opposite. I stopped moving completely, waiting for one of the mermaids to grab me and all the time keeping my eyes trained on the rapidly descending box. I was snatched almost immediately and dragged down at an incredible rate. Gibbs tried to save me, not understanding what I was doing but I pulled free of him. I struggled from the mermaid only in order to move closer to the direction the box had fallen in. The water around me was getting darker and darker the further down I sank. I doubted I could make it back up to the surface, it was so far away. But I could still save everyone else. I saw the box in the gloom. It was floating down slower than I was being dragged. I knew I only had one chance at this.

I reached out and snatched the box.

The water really slowed my movements. I was getting weak. The mermaid's grip on my ankle tightened as I slipped my nails into the opening. I pulled with all the strength that was in me. A bright white light sprang out of it, emanating from a liquid which began to surround us. It was brighter than anything I'd ever seen and as it touched my skin it felt so warm. I felt so happy that all the pain my bursting lungs were going through didn't matter anymore. I smiled. The light touched the mermaid and she disintegrated before my eyes. The light touched her skin; it flaked away and was swallowed by the light. Her face twisted in an ugly kind of anger but then that too was swallowed by the light, leaving only dark holes where her eyes and mouth used to be. They lingered on for a second before the light closed around them.

It was spreading rapidly now, freeing my friends. I stayed floating there, clutching the box. I felt weak but peaceful. Like my soul and body were no longer connected. The light was warm. It was my friend. But then it faded and the feeling of fear returned, ebbing back into my body and filling it with ice and adrenaline. I looked up. The surface was so far away. I started swimming up. My legs were so heavy it was almost impossible. A dark shape blocked my view of the surface.

Jack.

I reached up to him. He grabbed both of my arms and pulled me up. I was still clutching the box in one hand, kicking as hard as I could. He got me to the surface just in time and held me as I caught my breath. We shivered and swam to the side. For a few moments everyone just lay recovering. I sat up and looked around. It seemed like everyone had made it. Jack pulled me towards him.

"Belle…" he was out of breath. "You… brave, brave… _stupid _girl."

He wrapped his arms around me and rocked me back and forth. I felt myself get warmer in his arms. I hugged as much of him as I could. "Less of the stupid… I saved you're life." I pretended to sold him, smiling as he kissed my cheek. I rested against him. He leant his head on me as we caught our breath. Gibbs was the first to stand up, he was looking around. He looked nervous.

"Cap'n… we should get moving. Blackbeard won't be far behind us." Jack jumped up. He clapped his hands together to get everyone's attention.

"Right you lot, let's get moving, we've no idea what's ahead of us."

He looked excited about this prospect. A feeling we definitely did not share. We were all tired from the fight but we had to keep moving. Blackbeard could be bearing down on us so there was no time to rest. I needed sleep, but I pushed myself to stand on my feet. The only way for us to go was through a large archway in the wall. Our progress was slow and reluctant, as we were unsure of what lay before us. Through the archway we were met with four choices. High hedges rose up and up towards the sky. So far up that I couldn't even see where they stopped. There were four openings for us to choose from. We all stopped and took it in. I looked down each different pathway, but there was nothing to indicate which one was the right one. Gibbs moaned. I looked at him and saw his face redden. "Now what the hell is this?"

His sudden outburst had clearly been pent up for some time. "Gibbs…" I said as soothingly as I could. "It's alright-"

"Alright?" he mimicked. "ALRIGHT? How can you say any of this is alright?"

"It's alright," I repeated. He'd started pacing. I'd never really seen him this angry before. You could usually depend on him to be more level-headed than the rest. "Just calm down and we'll-"

"WHAT?" he roared. "What will we do? What's your plan then? EH? Come on, let's hear it!"

Jack stepped towards him. "That will do, Master Gibbs." His voice was quiet, icy and scarily calm. Gibbs, however, wasn't quite finished yet. He rounded on Jack.

"Let's hear your plan then. How's the marvellous Captain Jack Sparrow going to weasel us out of this one then, eh?"

"MASTER GIBBS!" Jack bellowed, but Gibbs didn't even flinch. He raised his voice to match Jack's.

"WHAT? **Don't stand there and pretend that you have everything under control when we all know you don't. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. You're risking us all in you quest for immortality. Are we all to die so you can live forever?" **Jack and Gibbs were closing in on each other. I wouldn't have been at all surprised if they came to blows. I took a wary step closer to Jack. Then I saw Gibbs properly. He was different. There was something about his eyes. They were darker. Almost black. And it wasn't just his pupils it was the entire eye socket that had turned a gleaming black. Ragetti stepped out of nowhere and knocked Gibbs to the ground with the handle of his pistol. Without pausing he rolled him over and chanted something that wasn't English. Gibbs's black eyes opened wide and his body twitched. Ragetti trembled as he finished his incantation. He stepped back. We did the same, unsure of what was going on. Gibbs's eyes shut again.

There was a moment where nothing happened.

Then his whole body convulsed and his mouth shot open. A massive dark could of black smoke poured out. In one quick move it shot to rest between the second and third openings we had been arguing over. I looked back to Gibbs. He was pale and shaking as he clambered to his feet. The dark mass had taken shape. It was almost dog-like. I had fur and a tail and paws but it was so much bigger. And its ears were much larger, pointed upwards. It sat down and observed us with intelligent eyes.

"Hello," it said in a voice I did not expect and with a smile I definitely did not like.


	46. Riddles

Nobody was quite sure how to handle the situation. It wasn't exactly a familiar one. The dog-type creature smiled. It wasn't a friendly smile. It was creepy, but not yet dangerous. I didn't doubt that it could turn that way. "I said hello," the creature spoke again. He sounded polite enough but there was something cold about his tone. "It's only polite to say hello back." The air trembled with uncertain 'hello's from everyone. His smile widened and became more mischievous. "Good."

He seemed quite content to sit and study us. I wondered what exactly he was, but asking _what _someone is rather than _who _they are is a bit rude. "Who are you?" I ventured. He looked amused.

"I think the question you really meant to ask is _what_ am I, is it not?" his grin widened. "But you didn't want to be rude… interesting. I find you intriguing Isabel."

I blinked. "How… how…"

"How did I know?" he finished for me. "I know a great many things while knowing nothing at all, and as for what I am…" In one step he sprang up and became a horse unlike any I had ever seen before. Everything changed but his eyes stayed the same. "I can be a great many things." He gave me a toothy smile before becoming a dog again. "But I prefer to take this form today."

Still, he was being friendly but there was something untrustworthy about him. He gave me cold shivers when he looked at me. I took Jack's hand. He gave mine a quick squeeze. The creature saw this and smiled again, but in a way that scared me.

"Love," he said. "Love kills. Love hurts. Love hearts. Hearts. Seventeen hearts here."

I hadn't counted, but I assumed there were seventeen of us. Jack opened his mouth, "What…"

"Seventeen heartbeats standing in a line," the creature cut across him.  
"Seventeen heartbeats thinking they'll be fine.  
Seventeen heartbeats beating loud and steady  
Little do they know one of them's dead already."

A great feeling of unease passed between us, a ripple of discomfort as we all looked at each other. Considering that it was him the creature had possessed, Gibbs was looking the most worried. Everyone tried to surreptitiously check their own pulses.

"What do you want from us?" Jack asked calmly, stepping forwards.

"Nothing," was the reply. "What do you want from me?"

We looked at each other, not knowing what to give away and what information to withhold. Although I had a feeling he probably already knew what we were here for. Jack hesitated but spoke with confidence, "We're looking for Atlantis."

He nodded, "And what's stopping you?"

"Well…" Gibbs looked like he was already regretting speaking. "Right now… you are."

"Am I?" He licked his lips. I saw his teeth flash. "How rude of me."

"Which path do we take?" I asked, indicating to the four possible choices that lay ahead of us.

"Which one do you want to take?" Not for the first time today, he answered a question with a question. It was getting rather tiring.

"Which one will lead us to where we want to go?" Jack was getting rather ratty.

The creature shrugged. "All of them, none of them. Maybe only some of them."

"This is ridiculous," Jack dropped my hand and stepped forwards. He walked straight past the creature and through the opening directly in front of us. The second he did so everything started spinning and the openings changed order so fast it was impossible to tell which one Jack had travelled down. I called for him. The creature laughed and began to circle us.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Somewhere, everywhere, nowhere to be found  
With us, beside us, somewhere all around," was the infuriating answer.

"That doesn't make any sense!" I turned to face the creature. His smile was twisted.

"Who says? Who's to say that nonsensical things don't make any sense? If you only have the common sense to make sense of the nonsense this would all be rather sensible," he laughed again. I felt incredibly disorientated. "The journey to Atlantis is a personal one more than anything else. You must all take it alone. If you make it to the other side you will be reunited and pass on to the Forests of Atween. If you perish at the hands of your own demons you have nobody to blame but yourself."

"Our own demons?" I repeated.

"The secrets and fears and troubles in your head

Every little nightmare that's filled you with dread

In the Maze you're not likely to get lost or left behind

If you're never seen again it's because you've lost your mind," he sang it like it was a nursery rhyme. I shuddered. Behind me, Ragetti whimpered.

"So…" he gulped. "We have to… face our fears… in there… alone?"

The creature nodded. "One by one," he grinned and turned to me. "Isabel… you next."

I stepped forwards and looked at him. "Will I find Jack again?"

"If you both stay sane."

Jack wasn't sane to start with. My own joke made my heart sink and I took a step forward. _Stay strong, Jack. _I thought desperately in case there was some crazy way that he could hear me. In my head I heard his voice, soothing and familiar. _You too, love. _I looked at the crew and tried to think of something worth saying. When nothing came to mind I smiled encouragingly. "See you soon," I mumbled.

"I'll see you again, Isabel," said the creature. "You intrigue me."

I stepped forwards and everything around me changed. The hedge walls twisted and spun and the opening closed immediately. For a second there was nothing but silence. And then a sing-song voice drifted over to me. One I knew all too well,

Isabel's somewhere, everywhere, nowhere to be found  
She's with us, beside us, somewhere all around  
The secrets and fears and troubles in her head  
Every little nightmare that's filled her with dread  
In the Maze she wont to get lost or left behind  
If she's never seen again it's because she's lost her mind

Seventeen heartbeats entering the Maze  
Seventeen heartbeats lost in the haze  
Seventeen heartbeats beating loud and steady  
Little do they know one of them's dead already…

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**Ooh, bit ominous :P Love you guys lots like jelly tots. Or maybe more like Chocotlate Orange, I prefer them to jelly tots.**


	47. Run, run, run

It wasn't as dark as I had been expecting. It was fairly gloomy but I think that was more reflective of the atmosphere than the lighting. And there was nothing but silence all around. I called for the others but my voice carried out unheard. I listened for a reply, when none came it confirmed what I had been thinking all along. This was one part of the journey we had to do alone. I shivered and took a step forward. Something crunched beneath my feet. I looked down and wished I hadn't. The ground beneath me looked suspiciously like old and brittle bones. I looked sharply back up again, braced myself and moved on. As I moved further on the leaves on the trees around me started to glisten. At first I thought it was just dew, but when my hand brushed against a wet branch and came away stained red I realised that it was blood. I shuddered. The voice of the dog creature came from the air around me.

"Run rabbit, run," he told me. I looked for him.

"Where are you?"

I heard the smile in his voice, "Oh… around."

I clenched my teeth. I did not want to play his little games. "Around _where_?"

"Somewhere… everywhere… nowhere all at once," he said in his sing-song tones.

"Right."

"Run little rabbit. Run."

I felt a little uneasy, but thought it was best not to ask him what he was talking about. "Where are the others?" I asked, knowing that none of the answers he gave me were likely to be the right one, or even a slightly coherent one.

"With me."

"But you're with _me_…"

"Am I?"

"Well yes, I can hear you."

"But can you see me?"

I looked around, "…No…"

"Then how do you know where I am, little rabbit?" he chuckled. Why was he calling me that? "I told you, I'm somewhere, everywhere, nowhere all at once. I'm with you all but you are not together. Or maybe you are together but not physically in the same place."

"I'll never understand you," I sighed.

"Do you know what I don't understand, little rabbit?"

"What?" I asked tentatively.

"Why you won't run, run, run."

"Why would I need to run?" I couldn't put off the question any longer, but a huge part of me didn't want to know the answer. I felt myself tense and prickle. The muscles in my legs tightened, ready for action but something felt wrong.

"Run rabbit, run rabbit run, run, run," he began to chant and then out of nowhere came a series of loud bangs. A bullet shot past me and I sprang forward away from the source of them. As I did so I realised the leap I had taken was impossible. My heartbeat was faster, my eyesight and hearing had drastically improved.

"What have you done to me?" I screamed as I ran although it was becoming increasingly more obvious that he had changed my form completely. I really was a little rabbit on the run, run, run. There was a dark chuckle from all around me.

"Here comes the farmer with his gun, gun, gun."

The explosions around me intensified and there was no room for thought. Only run, run, running for my life. Forward. I had to go forward. Low to the ground. Keep going and going. Don't stop or look. Don't pause or run in the same way for too long. Dart around, weave across the path. Always going forward. Forward. Ahead of me I saw a split in the path. I swerved right and then bolted down the left-hand fork. The level of gunfire increased and then died away for a brief moment as I sped down the new path. Then it came back louder than before and accompanied by the sound of heavy boots running. I was doing my best to dodge bullets left, right and centre. Blind luck handed me another corner to escape the gun blasts for few fractions of a second and gain a little lead on them. I looked for every turn possible. Right. Left. Left. Left. Right. Left again. Right twice more and then-

_Oh no._

I froze. Dead end. Glancing back I saw huge tall shapes rounding the corner. My heart drummed. Gap in the hedge. I slid under it. The branches clawed and scraped at me. The gunfire stopped all together as I emerged out of the other side. I shook as I pulled my knees up to my chin. My _human _knees.

"Oh thank God," I said out loud, choking back a sob. I ran a hand through my hair, it was matted and tangled with blood from the hedges. I screamed and moved away from the hedge, scrambling forward without enough energy to stand up. I trembled. I had been shaken by such pure and genuine fear. Did this mean it was all over?

"No, Isabel," said a voice I was getting sick of hearing. I almost started crying. "We're only just getting started."

I lay my head down for a second out of exhaustion and despair. Something prickled my face. I opened my eyes to see the carpet of bones. I sat straight back up again, fighting the sick threatening to rise up in my throat. I wished more than ever that Jack was with me. For now, everything around me was silent again. I wasn't sure which was worse, the gunfire or this lonely silence. I looked up. There was a door in the hedge in front of me. I looked at it long and hard. Was I meant to go through? Was it a trap? This whole maze seemed like one giant trap.

Something rattled. I looked for it but it fell silent again. A few heartbeats later and I heard it again. It sounded louder, closer, from beneath me. There was a pause. I sensed it wouldn't last long and that I should move but then it came again. It was a deep rumble now. I looked at the carpet of bones. Some of them were moving. Fear and adrenaline pushed me to my feet. I stumbled away from the bones I had seen move but I didn't get far. A skeletal hand shot out of the ground and fixed itself around my ankle.

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**Alright, my lovelies? Hope you're all enjoying the holidays, however you spend them.**

**I'd like to recommend PirateNinjaCJS's fic "We Each Left Our Mark On The Other". It's from Jack's POV and rather brilliant, not to meantion that she is a lovely person to boot. I can see from my Emails that she's recently uploaded two new Chapters which I'll be off to read once this has been safely stowed away and I hope you lot will do the same.**

**Reviews greatly apreciated to both stories.  
Love you guys :)**

**LV xx  
**


	48. A Door to the Past

I screamed and swung my free foot round to dislodge it with a kick. It took quite a lot of effort and the awkward position made me stumble. As I found my balance there was a very loud, very deep rumble from all around. Bony hands shot out from the ground all around me, but this time it didn't stop with just the hands. Bony hands were followed by bony arms which pulled whole skeletal bodies from the shards of bone on the ground. Fires burned in their eye sockets but somehow all of them were looking directly at me. They appeared so quickly that I barely had time to draw my sword before the first one was upon me. I turned and swung the blade in a panic. It caught it between the ribs and smacked against its backbone, knocking it off balance a bit. Sensing an opportunity I swung again, harder this time and slashed it between two sections of its backbone. It snapped completely, fell to the ground but was still moving. I had no time to celebrate because as I turned to see another one almost on top of me. This time I went to take its skull clean off. As I did so a bony hand gripped my arm like a vice and another scratched my back, I felt it draw blood. I screamed out and twisted away from the one gripping me. I ducked under a blur of arms that swiped through the ait to grab me. I reached the door in the hedge, sensing that there was no way I could possibly beat them all and it wouldn't be long until they'd overpowered me. I grabbed the handle and winced immediately. The handle was razor sharp it made me bleed. The door was locked. I cried out and rattled the door. I tired kicking it but then had to kick off another skeleton.

"Come on!" I screamed at the door. "Open! Bloody open!" With the hand that was bloodied and cut by the handle I clawed at the lock on the door. My blood touched the lock and it clicked open. "Yes!" I pushed the door open and ran in, slamming it shut just in time.

"Welcome, Isabel," the dog creature appeared in front of me.

"Not you again."

"Oh, you don't like me. Shame. I thought we were really getting on," he smiled. I glared at him; I was so tired of these games. I looked around. It took me a while to realise where we were. "Where are you, Isabel?" he asked me.

"This is Elizabeth's old house…" I stuttered. "The one she grew up in… this… this is where my parents died."

"Interesting," he mused as I trembled.

"What are we doing here?" I asked. He shrugged.

"You tell me. That was, after all, _your _door. To me or to anyone else… this room is just empty."

"You can't see any of this?" I looked at the house, exactly as I remembered it with no noticeable details missing. It looked exactly as it did before the fire. The dog shook his head and smiled.

"Not a thing. But have fun."

He slowly vanished into the air around me. I stood on my own in the entrance hall wondering what I was supposed to do and why I was here. The house was completely silent. Perhaps I was the only one in here. I suppose that would make sense seeing as this was apparently a place specific to me. Surely, if it was my door I'd gone through it should have been my childhood home I was standing in, not Elizabeth's. Why was I here? I took a tentative step forward. My footstep barely made a sound. I didn't like how quiet this was. Elizabeth's had never stood as quietly as this. "Hello?" I called into the still air. I waited, not sure if I wanted company or if another voice in this atmosphere would scare me.

Nothing.

Not that I had been expecting anything.

I didn't like being here. It was creepy. I turned to leave but the door was locked. This brought me a sense of relief that I didn't understand until I remembered what I had just escaped from on the other side of that door. Surely whatever was waiting for me in here could not be as bad as that. Could it?

I heard a door creak open. My heart fluttered as I turned to look. One of the doors on my left had opened up. It was the door to the room where the Swanns had entertained close, personal friends. The room that Elizabeth and I had always been itching to get away from as it was full of mundane adults and their conversations. The room with the cushion we'd accidently spilt something on and just turned it over so that we never had to tell a soul that it was us. The room with the window that looked out onto the front lawn. The room where you could see the side of the Anderson's house and could sometimes spot Grumpy Mr Anderson looking grumpy at his desk. The room where, when the light shone in a specific direction at a specific time of day it caught on a crystal Elizabeth's mother had hung by the window and cast rainbows on the wall that would dance in a breeze.

The room where my parents died.

I didn't want to go in. I couldn't. I wouldn't. But then I heard a laugh. A laugh I hadn't heard in I heard in over fourteen years. _Her _laugh. My mother's.

Suddenly I felt ten again. A ten year old girl who wanted nothing more than a hug from her mother and a kiss from her father. "Mother!" I shouted running towards the door. I could scarcely believe she was here. "Mother!" Was my father here too? "Father! Mother, father!"

I stopped at the door.

The room felt far too still. A bad feeling in the pit of my stomach stopped me from going any further. I could just see the tops of their heads and their hair over the back of their chairs. Then I heard my father speak, "Isabel," he was calling for me. He sounded happy to see me. Still, I hesitated.

"Isabel, darling," my mother almost sang. "How have you been, my child?"

I stumbled towards them, my heart felt lighter than it had in a while but there were tears in my eyes and a heavy lump in my throat. "I've missed you… James is… we… I don't…" I wanted nothing more than for them to hug me. It was only when I was standing directly behind them that I realised something was wrong. Their clothes looked too loose on them. I caught a glimpse of my mother's hand. I could see the bone. Strips of burnt flesh hung around it. I became aware of a strong stench in the air. The stench of burnt flesh. I choked on some vomit that rose in the back of my throat.

"What's wrong darling?" my father's voice sounded oddly hollow. "Isabel…"

"No," I moaned as tears rolled down my face. Their heads snapped round to look at me simultaneously. The skin on their face was blackened and unrecognisable. Their hair fell lankly around their skulls. The only things that were recognisable were their eyes which fixed on me. Their jaws swung open and their screams filled the air as flames which came from inside them engulfed their bodies. They burnt to ash within a matter of seconds. I threw up. Stumbling away from them I fell backwards. I landed as the last of my parent's screams faded away. Everything around me burst into flames.

From upstairs, I heard Jack scream.

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**Reviews appreciated :)**

**And Happy New Year my lovelies. Love you.**

**LV xx  
**


	49. Reunited

I scrambled to my feet, desperate to get out of the smoke and desperate to get out of the flames. The shock of the situation left me seriously unbalanced as I stumbled my way to the door. My body was shaking with a fear and adrenaline that made me feel quite nauseous. I leant heavily on the handle of the door, but the second I did a burning pain seared across my palm. The handle had already heated up in the flames. Smoke stung my eyes as I made it into the hall where everything was also on fire. The front door now stood open. I could see fresh air and safety, but I turned my back on it. I was so sure that it was Jack I had heard upstairs. If he was here I couldn't leave him.

"Jack!" I screamed as I reached the top landing. _Please be okay. _The fire wasn't as fierce up here.

"No!" I heard a shout that was unmistakably Jack's. Without hesitating I followed the sound. It lead me through a door to where I could see a dark shape lying in the smoke. I ran towards it and the closer I got, the surer I was that it was him. As I got nearer he sat up. "Isabel."

"Jack. Jack!" I knelt down to his level and wrapped my arms around him. "You're alright. Thank God you're alright. I have no idea what's going on, but we have to get out of here."

"Not you," he pulled away from me. "Isabel, not you."

The fire crept closer. "Jack, what are you talking about?"

He suddenly found his strength to stand up and push me away. "You. I don't want you."

"What?" I faltered slightly. His fists clenched in stress.

"FUCK OFF!" He screamed at me. I stumbled backwards in shock.

"Jack…" I stared at him. "What's wrong? What did I do?"

"It's just YOU! I can't stand you. You drive me insane. You're so clingy. I don't love you! I never have. You were just… convenient. Now were both going to die here I don't care if you know how little I care about you."

"No… no…" I moved slowly towards him. There was something very wrong about his eyes. He wouldn't let me get a close look but I caught a glimpse and I knew they weren't his eyes. They were green. This wasn't him. As I reached this conclusion the fire burned brighter. I grabbed him and forced him to look at me. "This isn't you… you're not him…" His eyes flashed, reflecting the fire as he twisted to take hold of me. He tried to push me backwards, into the fire. I screamed and resisted him. For a while we were locked like that. I was beginning to hurt but I had to resist. Would I have to overpower him? _Could_ I? My moment doubt cost me and he gained an advantage. My foot slipped dangerously close to the fire. _This isn't Jack. This isn't really him. _The more I told that to myself the weaker he seemed to get. I was tired, my muscles ached but finally I was getting somewhere. "You are **NOT** MY HUSBAND!" I screamed and gave one last almighty push that landed him on his back. The fire closed in around us. "And this isn't real."

As I uttered those words a wave of fire rose up and came crashing down on us both. Everything around me disappeared and was replaced by solid black. I sat up. It was suddenly cold. A pair of eyes glowed in front of me. "Well done Isabel," the dog's velvety voice made me feel queasy. I was so close to crying. I couldn't take any more of this. "You passed."

"Passed…?" I repeated. "What do you mean?"

The eyes got bigger as he drew closer to me. I could see his teeth as he talked. "This maze is designed test anyone who enters with their worst fears. In your case, fire, specifically the one from your childhood that killed your parents… and loosing Jack. Obviously I underestimated how big that second fear was. I didn't study it enough. You saw through it. You lived. Shame."

With that, everything got lighter. I looked around as shapes slowly grew out of the dark. They looked human. I was wary rather than relived. "Isabel!" Jack's voice was flooded with joy. I felt his arms wrap around me. I smelt him. He smelt right, but I pulled back to study him. He cupped my face in his hands. I touched his cheek.

"Jack," my voice was almost a whisper, tears stung my eyes. "Is it you? Is it really you?"

He looked me deep in the eyes and smiled, "I _love _you, so much."

I kissed him, flooded with relief. "I love you too… but… how did you know…?"

"Well, I'd have been a bit offended if our fears weren't even slightly similar, love," he grinned. That earned him another kiss. He could still make me giddy and lightheaded. For a second I forgot all of the recent stresses as my brain flooded with sheer love. Somebody cleared their throat. I pulled back and looked around. Most of the crew were sitting around us. They all looked a little shell shocked.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked them. Pale faces nodded back at me, some tried their best to smile. "Where's everyone else?"

Jack shrugged and shifted position to sit next to me. His arm slipped comfortably around my waste. "They've not arrived yet." He kissed my forehead as I leant against him. I was so lucky to have him. He made a stupid happy smile creep over my face. I couldn't decide whether to hit him or kiss him for it. I settled for hugging him. His warm arms tightened around me and his lips pressed down on the top of my head again. I could hear his heartbeat.

We all sat in silence for some time, waiting for everyone else. After a few moments the air seemed to crackle. The area where it seemed to be coming from grew slightly darker and ever so slowly Gibbs emerged from the light. He looked shaken as he took us all in. "Alright, Gibbs?"

"Is this real?" he asked, his eyes wide. That was a very, very good question.

"I bloody hope so, mate," Jack sighed. "I can't take any more of those mind games."

"But how do we know?" Marty's question hung in the air. I looked around.

"This is the end of the maze, it's over." I said and nodded towards a sign that read 'End of the Maze, congratulations if you kept your head'. Everyone took some solace in this and we waited for the others to join us. It took some time but when everyone was accounted for and fully recovered Jack stood up, dragging me with him.

"Right," he smiled. "Onwards."

"Where to?" Gibbs asked. It was another very, very good question.


	50. The Entrance To Atlantis

The sun was just coming up. We must have spent an entire day in the maze. It was now three days until our baby was due. I began to worry, but a friendly kick from inside my stomach told me that our baby was tough. I looked at its father. Course it was.

We were standing at the edge of a deep jungle. The trees were impossibly tall and thick, but there was a clear path trodden through it. Exotic plants covered the jungle floor. The array of colours here was beyond anything I had ever seen before. And the smell was incredible. It wasn't like the humid, earthy smell of other jungles and exotic forests. It was far sweeter, a mixture of all the fruit juices in the world. However, not all of the flowers produced a scent. The breeze which rippled through the undergrowth was created by the flowers themselves. They breathed soft music into the air. It was barely audible, but definitely there. It was a quietly beautiful melody which every time I came close to picking up on would shift and change. Different harmonies and tunes intertwined with one another into something so beautiful it almost made me cry.

"Nature's Song," said Gibbs, seeing my expression. "Always changing, always playing. Never repeats itself."

"Never?" I repeated. He shook his head. "Do they ever stop?"

"Aye… they will… and it'll be a sad day for us all when they do."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you hear how quiet they are?" he looked around sadly. "They never used to be that way. The more natural beauty we destroy, the quieter they get. The day these flowers stop singin' will be judgement day for us all."

I shuddered and prayed for them to get louder. Jack took my hand and we walked on slowly. When we got deeper in and the edges of the jungle melted away around us I began to notice tiny little glowing shapes gathered in huge clumps like flies. Once, when we stopped for a quick break one flew over and landed on my arm. I lifted it up slowly to have a closer look. It was a tiny, miniscule winged person. It was a woman so small that I would have missed that she was a person if she hadn't been standing up. She looked at me, frozen, as I stared back. I didn't want to make any sudden moves and scare her, even though she was probably terrified already. After a moment she walked a little down my arm. It tickled a bit. I smiled but held still. She reached the end of my fingertips and flew away.

Occasionally, there was rustling in the trees above us. Every now and then I'd glance up to try and catch a glimpse of what was causing it, but they were too high up to get a good view of. Once I saw a long, bushy, reddish-brown tail, but couldn't see what kind of creature it belonged to. Whatever it was seemed to be following us. I hoped it was harmless. Although… it looked huge. Deep in the jungle and far from the path I saw a giant cat with the skin of a chameleon dart out from in front of a tree before blending back in to the nearby foliage. For a while I could still sort of distinguish it from the rest of the jungle by the whites of its eyes, but then I blinked and I'd lost it completely. It made me feel incredibly uneasy. Was it still there? Were there any more of them?

I shuddered and stayed close to Jack. We walked for almost an entire day with little sign of civilisation, I couldn't help but feel that the jungle held more secrets that were waiting to be explored, but I didn't dare leave the path to go exploring. The path came to an abrupt end in front of a colossal tree. On the tree hung a sign that read "_Welcome to Atlantis_". There was a silence.

"Is that it?" Pintel asked. He sounded as unimpressed as I felt. I had not come all this way to stare at a tree. Jack plastered a false smile on his face.

"Gents…" he addressed them, trying to look as if he'd planned for Atlantis to be a massive tree. "Of course this is not **it. **This is merely an obstacle that's grown over the many, many-"

"Oh, it's just grown with a sign nailed to it has it?" Gibbs sounded disgruntled. I didn't blame him.

"Now," Jack raised his hands. "You didn't let me finish. What I was going to say was that this is clearly _not _the entrance to Atlantis, it is obviously just-" He leant backwards on to the tree and the moment he touched it there was a crack. The tree began to unwind from the roots upwards. Jack fell through the gap and landed on his back.

"You were saying?" I said, helping him up as the two halves of the tree formed into a perfect archway with the "_Welcome to Atlantis" _sign hanging exactly in the middle. Jack said nothing but turned and marched into the passage beyond the archway. I was the first to follow him in. It was a dark and narrow passage, much longer than I had anticipated. Cold. I didn't like it in here. We had to move in single file and I could feel cold, hard walls on either side. It was so dark we had to move slowly. We walked for what felt like miles until suddenly Jack stopped and the whole line bumped in to one another.

"I can see a light up ahead," Jack called. I felt a surge of relief. The floor beneath us began to slope upwards. There was some bright light radiating from a space in front of us. Jack slipped through before me. He stuck his hand back through. I took it and he pulled me out to stand with him. The light was so much brighter than what I had been used to. It hurt my eyes. When I was used to it I looked up. What I saw took my breath away.

Before me stood a once great city that was now in ruin. It was a city built like a fortress, the high wall around it had once stood tall and strong, but was now crumbling away. Above us was a protective dome designed to keep seawater out and air trapped inside. The light that filtered through it bathed everything around us in an eerie blue. It was almost as if the city was built out of blue crystals. The light sparkled off the towers and turrets which rose high up in to the air. Most of them rose to a point, but over the years some of them had collapsed in on themselves or were missing huge chunks of roof.

There were gasps from behind us as the crew emerged one by one and saw Atlantis before them. A small slope led down to a high, wide metal gate. Jack took my hand and we walked towards it. "I can't believe we're here," he whispered, reaching out to touch the rusty gate. "Finally."

I kissed him on the cheek. He let go of my hand and put his arm around me.

"How do we get in?" I asked. For the first time today he looked happy and relaxed. His smile only lasted a second before his facial expression changed completely and dramatically. He jumped and it didn't take me long to work out why. Someone grabbed me roughly. I tried to scream, but a hand was already over my mouth. Jack and I were pulled apart. I tried to twist and get away, but I couldn't. I caught a glimpse of the crew behind me who had all met the same fate. Jack's wide, desperate eyes stared at me helplessly. A low voice spoke in a language I did not know. There was a loud, sharp sound of metal grating on metal. I winced. The gates swung inwards. It looked like we we'd found a way in.

Even if it wasn't on our own terms.

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**Please review :) Love you all**


	51. Atlantis

**Ahoy!**

**Before I begin I'd like to recommend PirateNinjaCJS's Fanfic "Never Would Have Lied". If you're a fan of Sweeny Todd (and of course the beautiful Johnny Depp) then you should definately go and check it out! It's awesome.**

**Lots of love to you all**

**LV xx  
**

* * *

I tried not to panic. I really did, but then I thought about my unborn child and the current situation, the danger, and I started shaking. Where were they taking us? I tried to keep Jack in my sight as much as possible. Seeing him calmed me down greatly. With him, I had always felt safe. He was, and always had been, a dangerous kind of safety.

The streets that we were dragged through were empty, desolate. The buildings on either side were at varying stages of ruin. All of them were dark inside. They looked cold and unwelcoming. Behind the cracked glass of a few windows shapes moved and faces stared out at us. Our presence slowly built up more interest and soon figures began appearing at the doorways. Children stared at us until an adult pulled them back. Nobody said anything. The entire city was deathly quiet. Every face I saw was blank, void of any emotion except from the misery in their eyes. It surprised me how many of the people we saw were children. It seemed to be the vast majority. I changed from being terrified of them to feeling overwhelmingly sorry for them all. They just looked so sad.

By now, I had stopped resisting the hands that held me and just let them roughly guide me down many different streets. Each street looked basically the same as the one before. All the buildings were damaged and looked as if they had been for some time. I supposed that since Atlantis had sunk beneath the waves they didn't have sufficient tools or materials to repair everything. What about food? Did they have enough to eat down here? I tried not to think about the lengths that a limited food supply could drive people to. The Pelegostos tribe and their cages of bone sprang briefly into my mind.

_Just… please don't eat us, _I prayed silently.

Further in to the city centre the buildings got bigger and slightly grander. We were led to a particularly grand one which sat at the bottom of a hill. The flight of stairs which ran up to the large doors had cracked in half. The brickwork in the walls was crumbling and pieces were flaking off. Only three of the windows were intact. Whoever was holding me raised a fist and banged on the heavy, wooden door. The bang echoed in still air.

Everything about this place was so very quiet and still. I was sure that if someone at the other end of the city were to drop something, we would be able to hear it. It may sound peaceful, but it was not. It was eerie.

The door creaked open. A tall man dressed in rags looked at me. He looked proud and almost… regal. He didn't suit his rags. His eyes were full of pride and they were full of honour. He was fierce, almost challenging me to judge him. I stared back at him with my own agenda. _Please don't kill us._

He said nothing, he just nodded to whoever was behind me and stepped back to allow us in. The marble floor beneath my feet was cracked and some of the huge pillars of stone stretching from floor to ceiling had crumbled to rubble. Around the walls thousands of tiny different coloured tiles were arranged in what was once clearly a bright pattern, but now the colours had faded and some of the paint was flaking off. In the middle of the room stood a giant, golden fountain. It glinted and shimmered, looking almost brand-new and out of place in this desolate room. The golden figures of an old woman and a baby were sculpted on top of it and from their mouths poured a sparkling purple liquid which collected in a basin at their feet. Around the basin were the words '_Aquæ istæ animam refove'. _They looked familiar, then I remembered that they were the words that had been written in the book that Indigo had given us. That was it. That was the Fountain of Youth. I heard a muffled cry from Jack.

I tried to glance back at him but my captor kept my head facing forward. They dragged us past the Fountain to where a wide set of steps ran up to a platform . In the middle there was a grand chair which had a dark, hooded figure sitting in it. On the steps stood several young men, who bore a great resemblance to the one who had opened the door. The man who was standing closest to the chair walked down and stood in front of us.

They spoke to each other in a language I didn't understand. Then one of them spoke and looked directly at me. Was he speaking to me? The hand covering my mouth was removed. There was a huge silence. I took a breath and opened my mouth. He looked expectantly at me.

"Erm…" I said slowly. "I don't really understand…"

"Ah you speak English," he smiled. "Very good. Are you a threat?"

"No," I said. I couldn't help but think that it was a very stupid question. What kind of person would say yes?

He turned to the person in the chair. "Is she telling the truth?" I couldn't see the figure's face, but I saw him nod. He looked back to me and smiled again. "Good. And your name is…?"

"Isabel Sparrow," the hooded figure snatched the words out of my mouth. My mouth hung open, the man standing before me didn't look phased. He just nodded.

"How did you get here?" he asked me. I hesitated for a fraction of a second in case the hooded figure was going to answer for me again. He remained silent and still.

"It was a long journey," I sighed. I was tired and didn't really want to launch into the whole thing right there and then.

"I can imagine. Where are you from?"

"Well… we don't have a set home, as such. We're just sort of from the general Caribbean area." I said vaguely. The man before me frowned.

The hooded figure raised a hand, "They're pirates."

"Um… well yes, we are…." I gulped. Tension prickled around me. It was difficult to say which way this would go. If this was Port Royal that statement would have sealed our fate, but I had no idea what the Atlantisian view of piracy was.

He just nodded again, "Don't worry. Your kind is welcome here. It was not you who drove us here in the first place. Tell me, how is the New World?"

"It's… not as… _interesting _down here."

Quiet laughter rippled around the room. The man smiled at me. I could see he was warming to us. "I'll bet it isn't. And you… you are with child."

"Yes."

"How long have you got?"

"Three days," I gulped again. "The third is almost over."

"Then you should rest." The man holding me let go of me. I looked back at Jack and the others.

"Em…" I started to stammer.

"Don't worry, they can come too," he smiled again. "My name is Isaacio. "

Issacio placed a hand between my shoulder blades and started to lead me away. We had only gone a few steps before the figure spoke again. "They're here about the Fountain."

Oh, shit...

"Now…" Jack had managed to wriggle free. "That's not completely accurate… we were actually just worried about what had become of such a magnificent and-"

"He's lying," the hooded figure said. He was calm enough, but there was something sinister about the way he said it. Jack shrank back.

"Erm… I'm…" he stuttered.

"You're Jack Sparrow," the figure said. "and you have brought this all upon yourself."

My stomach twisted with unease.


	52. A Night In Atlantis

The Atlantisians had split us up into groups and given us rooms to sleep in, but they had made it clear that we were to leave as soon as possible. I think they took pity on me and Jack because of the baby. For that I was grateful, but I couldn't help feeling uneasy. Why were there so many children here and hardly any adults? What had happened to them all?

The door shut behind Isaacio and I let out a deep breath. Without realising it, I had been holding in a lot of tension. I felt sick. Jack immediately wrapped his arms around me. I held him tight. He kissed the part of my neck that his face was buried in to. I relaxed into him. He lifted his head from my shoulder and kissed me, running his hand along my jawline. Jack pulled me over to the small bed in one corner of the room and we sat down. I felt him smile through our kiss.

He was comforting, but I still felt unsettled. I pulled back and looked at him. "Jack, what are we going to do?" I sighed.

"It's okay, love," he whispered. "It's okay. We'll get to the Fountain and then we'll get out of here. Quick as we can."

He moved in to kiss me again, but I pulled away from him. "Are you joking?"

His eyes widened. "Er… no." I stared at him in disbelief. "We've come so far. I've _seen _the Fountain. You don't think we can just turn back now."

"Jack, they've _told _us, explicitly, to stay away from the Fountain. They obviously don't want us here."

"Belle," he smiled, sensing my frustration and trying to charm his way out of it. "We're pirates, love, We'll do what we do best. Who cares what they say?"

His hand slipped behind my head in an effort to pull my lips back to his, but I pushed him off. "I care, Jack. They're the ones letting us stay here. If we're not welcome here, I'm not pushing our luck."

"Will you relax?" he was getting a little irritable.

"No."

"Why are you being so…"

"So what?" I challenged. "Hmm? Concerned for our safety? We're having a baby in a matter of days, in case you'd forgotten!"

"Of course I hadn't forgotten! Why do you think that I'm doing all this?" he snapped. "I want us to be forever. You, me and the baby. I can't lose either of you. I won't."

"And if they kill us for trying to reach the Fountain? What then? Surely, it's safest to do what they want us to," I was almost pleading with him. "I just want us to be safe."

"So do I! I'm just thinking about our long-term safety. There's not much that's safer than Immortality, love." I wasn't convinced and that was clearly written all over my face. He was reaching the end of his tether. "I am doing this for _**us.**_"

It was increasingly beginning to feel as if I were talking to a brick wall. "Are you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I'm not sure this has ever been about us, Jack. Not completely," I stood up. There was an outraged silence. I felt myself tear up. I didn't want to have this argument, I was sick of it. But I was also tired, irritable, uncomfortable and fed up of not being listened to. "How many times have I told you I've thought this was a bad idea? And you just carried on regardless!"

"Well why didn't you just leave then?" he snapped. We stared at each other in shock. I could see immediately that he regretted what he'd said. I knew him well enough to know that his pride in a heated argument would prevent him from apologising. Still, I waited. Nothing.

"Fine," I said curtly. I turned my back on him and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind me. I heard a crash from inside as Jack threw something in anger. I exhaled and shut my eyes, feeling hot, angry tears burning behind my eyelids. I wiped them away.

"Is the room not to your liking?" Isaacio's pleasant tones made me jump. I opened my eyes again. He had a wide smile fixed on his face. I felt like it was supposed to be friendly, but something about it… wasn't. I shuddered involuntarily. My smile back was shaky.

"No… no, it's lovely…" I stammered, sure that he had heard our whole argument. "It's just…"

"Your husband?" his smile became a knowing one, confirming that he had been listening this whole time. I nodded.

"Erm… yeah… something like that."

"I understand," he nodded. "Come with me, we'll get you another room, just for tonight." I hesitated. He put his hand between my shoulder blades. "We'll look after you, come on."

I went with him, slightly reluctantly, to a smaller room on the floor above the room that had been intended for Jack and I. It was a little shabbier, but looked comfortable enough. "Thank you." I smiled.

"That's alright. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I nodded as he shut the door behind him. Silence. I sat down for a moment on a strange bed in a strange room hidden away in a small room in a Lost City, feeling a bit alone. I still felt sick with worry and decided that sleep was probably the best thing for me. Even if it would bring tomorrow closer, at least sleep would give me a moment's peace.

I stood up and blew out the candles around the room. I climbed in to the small single bed and lay there. It was only half-dark because the curtains in my room were worn and some faint light from outside seeped in. Everything around me was silent and still. I missed my bed on the _Pearl._ I missed the sea rocking me to sleep and I missed the lullaby of the waves. Above all, I missed Jack. It was cold in a bed without him.

It took me a long time to fall asleep. When I eventually managed to sleep, I felt like my eyes had only been shut for a minute before I was stirred by raised voices in the hallway outside. I opened my eyes briefly, but felt too tired and heavy to move or sustain a great level of awareness. I didn't even hear my door open, but I felt someone pull the covers. This pulled me slightly further away from the edge of sleep. I stirred as I felt someone crawl in beside me. I raised my head from the pillow.

"It's only me, love," Jack's voice whispered.

"Jack," I said groggily as he wrapped his arms around me. I rested my head on his chest as we squished up in a single bed.

"I couldn't sleep," he murmured. "Not without you."

"Love you," I said, feeling sleep wash over me again.

"I love you too," he said. I felt his lips on my forehead before I dropped off to sleep again.

When we awoke it was to the sound of absolute chaos. A bell tolled somewhere deep in the city. I thought I could hear gunfire. Shouts and screams came from all around us and footsteps thundered outside our room. Jack sprang out of bed. I sat up. My heart raced. "What's going on?"

At that moment Marty burst through the door, his eyes were wild and wide. "Capt'n, come quick!"

"Marty! What is it?" I asked as Jack grabbed his pistol.

"George," he said. "And he's got Barbossa with him."


	53. The Battle Begins

Ice-cold dread hit me like a wave crashing against the hull of the _Pearl. _I ran to the window. The already fragile city was trembling. The buildings were shaking and a few of them, which were already crumbling, seemed to start disintegrating before my eyes. I could see the occasional flash, accompanied by the faint crack of gunfire. People began to emerge from the trembling buildings, armed with things I've never seen before. A lot of them were just children. I felt sick to my stomach. "They've caught up," my voice was barely a whisper. "…how? Why?"

I felt weak, full of certainty that this was not going to end well. I turned to look at Jack. He grabbed his sword and pistol. His mouth was set, fury burned behind hind eyes and he gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly that his knuckles went white. "I'll kill him," he said shortly. I wasn't sure which 'him' he was referring to, but I fully believed in the conviction of what he said. The door burst open again. Isaacio strode in, his face flushed with anger.

"You said you didn't mean any harm!" he marched right up to Jack. The two men stood nose to nose, staring each other down. "Yet here you are, leading others into this City with their weaponry and their New World technology!"

Jack didn't even flinch. "Trust me, mate, we want them here even less that you do."

Isaacio looked distrustful. "You'll help us fight them?" he challenged. "You'll protect our City?"

"I'll do whatever it takes," Jack replied fiercely. Isaacio studied him for a moment, clearly unsure about how trustworthy we were.

"Fine," he said eventually, stepping back. "Gather your men before the City is destroyed."

The door shut behind him. Without wasting another moment, Jack barked orders at Marty to get the crew together. Marty ran off and Jack was immediately by my side. I knew what he was about to say before he said it.

"No!" I protested automatically, before he had even said a word.

He sighed. "You have to stay here," he said. My heartbeat immediately sped up at the thought of him fighting without me. I clenched my hands into a tight fist to stop them shaking. Jack and I were a team. I didn't like to be split up from him, it had happened too many times.

"Belle," his eyes were glistening and he looked like he couldn't decide whether to laugh at me, or start crying. "Your body is eight months pregnant. Down here you are _one day_ away from having a real-life baby."

"But…" I knew he was right; I just didn't want to agree with him. "I can… I want to…"

I was struggling to find He pressed a finger to my lips. "Darlin', I love you. So much," he said gently. "And I know you're not one to do as you're told." We both smiled at that. His hand was in my hair, brushing it away from my face. He looked me dead in the eyes. "But please, love, just this once… keep yourself safe. Keep our baby safe."

I could only nod. He looked at me for another moment longer. He didn't want to leave me and I wanted to go with him. We refused to say goodbye out loud, but I could see in his eyes that we had reached a mutual understanding. No matter what happened, we loved each other and that was all that mattered. He let go of me and walked swiftly to the door. I wanted to call him back, but I knew better than to be selfish. When the door shut I turned back to the window. I wanted nothing more than to be out there, defending Atlantis and fighting to protect everyone I love. I could only watch.

It was chaos out there. Part of me didn't want to watch, in case I saw something I didn't like, but how could I turn away from them when I was already so useless? I would rather fight and face death than sit with this kind of worry. It was unbearable.

The all too familiar sight of a red coat marched in to view with his musket raised and ready for action. I heard the handle of the door rattle behind me and I almost screamed. I reached for something to defend myself with and realised I had nothing. Jack had taken everything. My heart was in my mouth. The door swung open slowly and I clamed up. What was I supposed to do?

A little girl, who couldn't have been more than five or six, popped her head around the door. I relaxed slightly. "Isabel Sparrow?" she inquired. I nodded and she walked in, closing the door behind her. "My name is Nyssa. I've been sent to look after you."

I wasn't entirely sure how to respond to this. She was a child; surely it should be the other way around? Perhaps someone had sent her up here to keep her safe and told her that it was her job to look after me in order to make her feel important. Children enjoy those kinds of lies. In any other circumstance that would have made complete sense, but not now. Not here. Not in a place where every other child was being sent out to fight. This was all wrong. There was something really odd about her to. There was something about her dark eyes that just didn't quite fit with the rest of her. I couldn't work out what it was.

"Um. Hello," I smiled, feeling more than a little unnerved. She joined me by the window and had to stand on her tip-toes to peek out. We both looked down to where the Redcoat was turning away from an Atlantisian child who was lying in a pool of his own blood. I screamed.

"Don't be distressed," Nyssa said calmly, turning away from the window. "He'd had a long life, he was ready to die." She walked over and sat down on the bed. I started at her.

"You… you knew him?"

Why wasn't this little girl more upset? She nodded, "I'd known him for years. He was getting a little old."

"He looked about seven!" I said incredulously.

"His body was, but he was about two hundred and three," she said casually.

"What…?"

She smiled at my confusion. "Of course, maybe you don't know. The Fountain, the one you all came here for, do you know what drinking the water does to you?"

"It makes you immortal," I replied. She shook her head and some of her brown hair fell from her bun.

"No. The Fountain of Youth makes you younger. The more you drink, the younger you get. In body, but your mind stays the same. The more you drink, the younger you get. A drop can be enough to turn your bodyclock back and heal a wound. It can bring you back from the brink of death and give you a second chance. That was what it was originally used for, but when Atlantis sank we had to change that. When we get to the point where we are dying of age, we convert our bodies back to being children. Just to keep the City safe. It's tiring."

As she spoke I realised what it was about her eyes that wasn't right. They were far too old for her face. They held too much wisdom and experience for someone aged six. My head spun with the confusion of it all. This little girl was older than me. If time moved differently for people here _and_ she'd been using the Fountain, she was thousands of years old. But when I looked at her, all I could see was a six year old girl. I wasn't too sure how to treat her, or how to speak to her, or how to respond to what she had told me. I wanted to ask exactly how old she was, but I thought that might be rude, so I didn't.

She smiled, "It's alright, I know it's a lot to take in."

I nodded. "Yeah, you could say that."

Her eyes fell on my baby bump, "So, you're expecting?"

"Yes," I smiled, feeling a little nervous. "Tomorrow, actually."

She saw my fear. "I know it may not seem it, but this is a safe place."

"It is?" I raised an eyebrow disbelievingly, as the building we were standing in started to shake. She laughed.

"We've protected ourselves for thousands of years, we are educated people, our medicines are different and we can do things that people in the New World cannot. You are in safe hands."

I felt reassured. "Thank you," I said. I looked away from her and back out of the window. By now many more people were on the streets below us, either fighting or preparing to. Some of the Atlantisians seemed, at first glance, to be unarmed, but when they were under any kind of danger I saw that they could do the most incredible things. Tiny sparks flew from their fingertips in a whole array of colours from blues and purples to yellow and reds. Some of them would knock their opponent right back, others froze them and some just made them crumple to the ground. I didn't want to watch, but I couldn't look away. High above the roofs of the city a flash of fire caught my eye. I looked up to see two giant silhouettes in the sky flying with huge wings towards us. I was filled with awe at the thought of what this city could bring out to defend herself with.

Raised voices in the corridor made me turn. Nyssa and I exchanged a worried glance. I slowly moved towards the door and pressed my ear to the wood.

"Where is she?" a familiar angry voice was unnervingly close.

George.

"Give up," Jack's voice was tense.

I heard their swords clash once, twice… and then a gunshot.


	54. Blackbeard

Without thinking about it, I flung open the door. George was standing with his gun out, breathing heavily. Hatred twisted his features and smoke was rising from the barrel of his gun. Jack was on the floor. He was completely unharmed, the bullet had missed him and he was trying desperately to scramble to his feet before George could pull the trigger again. My scream startled George, which gave me enough time to push myself between Jack and the gun.

"Isabel! NO!" Jack shouted from behind me. He tried to pull me out of the way, but I just pushed him back down again.

"Jack! RUN!" I told him.

"NO. ISABEL MOVE!" he tried to lunge past me. I stopped him and faced George. The gun was inches from my face. I did my best not to flinch. George was pale and his eyes had widened.

"P-P-pregnant…" he stammered.

"Put the gun down," I said firmly as his hand started to shake. Jack got up slowly and stood beside me. I put my arms out to hold him back. Jack was shaking.

"How are you…" George didn't seem to have heard me. "How are you _so pregnant?"_

"The gun," I said again, slowly, "put it down."

"But… you're…" George continued to gawp at me and state the obvious, even though I was fully aware that my body was eight months pregnant. There would have been something seriously wrong if I hadn't noticed. Jack took full advantage of George's shock to knock the gun from his hand. Anger contorted George's features again and his hand flew to the hilt of his sword. Just as he started to unsheathe it, the building we were in shook and began to crumble as something huge slammed in to the side of it. I screamed. Jack snatched me up in his arms and we staggered backwards, away from George. There was another large tremor as the building was hit again. This blow was accompanied by a terrible roar and outside the window I glimpsed a flash of fire. We tumbled to the ground and Jack used his body to shield mine. I could hear loud crashes all around us as parts of the roof and floors above us stared caving in. I felt Jack pull me so that we were both lying in an open doorway. The air filled with dust and debris and then the building became still again. I looked up. Parts of the roof were strewn across the whole corridor that we had just been lying in.

"Belle, are you alright?" Jack's voice was full of urgency. I turned to look at him. He winced as he tried to prop himself up on his elbow. I sat up and looked him over. A small patch of blood seeped into the shirt on his back. I lifted it up. Something had struck him when the roof was caving in and now he had a cut just under his right shoulder blade. "I'm fine," he said. "Don't fuss."

"I'm your wife, I'll fuss if I want to," we both tried not to smile. I helped him to his feet. Something moved in the corridor. I turned. Jack's grip on me tightened.

"Nyssa…" I breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you alright?" Her young face smiled as her old eyes fixed on mine.

"Yes," she nodded, turning to Jack and pulling a small, grey stone from her pocket. "You'll need this," she said, more to me than to him. "Let me see his back."

"Err… who is _this_?" Jack shifted uncomfortably as I showed Nyssa his wound.

"It's okay, Jack," I laughed at his concern over the six year old who was trying to patch him up. "She's a friend."

Nyssa broke off a piece of the stone and crumbled it in her hands. She reached up and threw it directly in to the cut. Jack gave a start and a gasp rose from his throat. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second. I took his hand, immediately concerned. His eyes opened and he straightened up, smiling. He tested his back.

"Oh, that's so much better," he sighed. I looked at his back. The wound was completely gone, leaving his skin smooth and untouched. There was only a crimson bloodstain left to show that it had ever existed. There was another sound in the corridor. Jack's focus immediately snapped back. "George," he whispered, pushing me behind him with a protective arm and reaching for his pistol with his free hand. He took a tentative peek around the doorframe. I kept my eyes trained on him, waiting for his reaction. To see him relax was the last thing I expected. What did this mean? Was George dead? How would I feel if he was? After all the damage he had caused I knew I should hate him, and I did. But that didn't mean that I wanted him dead. He had been one of my best friends during my childhood and I wasn't sure if I could handle seeing him dead. I couldn't bring myself to look in to the corridor.

"What is it?" I asked tentatively.

"Nothing," Jack replied. "He's not here."

I peeked around the door. The corridor was full of rubble and debris, but it was free of bodies. I felt a little relieved, but also incredibly concerned as to where George was, if not here. I prefer people who are out to kill my husband to stay where I can keep an eye on them.

"Where is he?" I whispered. Jack shrugged.

"It doesn't matter, all that matters is that he's not near you," he tugged on my hand. "C'mon."

He led me out in to the corridor. I kept looking around us to check for George, but there was absolutely no trace of him. Nyssa followed on behind us, ever watchful and always protective. "Where are we going?" I asked, as the corridor curved. We had to pick our way over the rubble on the ground. The floor beneath us did not feel at all secure.

"I don't know…" Jack admitted. "We need to get you somewhere safer."

He sped up as we neared the staircase. Isaacio was running up towards us. "There's others," he panted. "There's another lot of them."

"What?" I started to feel sick as the noise levels outside dramatically increased. I glanced at Jack. He was pale.

"Blackbeard," he gulped. Isaacio took my other arm and he and Jack began to run, dragging me down the stairs. We reached the first floor, the corridors got darker. Isaacio opened up a room on my right and they bundled me in.

"Nyssa!" he snapped. She stepped forward. "You know what to do."

She nodded and Isaacio shut the door. She raised a hand and the door began to glow golden around the edges. There was a crack as parts of the wall around the doorframe grew in to the wood of the door. The glowing stopped and we were sealed in. It made me feel incredibly uncomfortable, being shut off from Jack all over again was not ideal, but I understood why it was happening. The room we were in was dark and cold. A breeze on my neck alerted me to the open window behind us. I went to shut it. The ground was shaking again, but more gently than before. They were like giant footsteps, which made everything shake ever so slightly. As I shut the window and looked outside I saw that that was indeed what it was. A giant, scaly, winged monster was patrolling the city. Its giant foot came into view and I froze, swallowing back a scream. It roared and the air was full of flames. I clamped a hand over my own mouth. Nyssa pulled me back from the window. The beast passed and I let out all the breath I'd been holding in.

I felt like crying. Jack had to face that kind of thing ? God knows what else was out there…

Now that the window was shut the room seemed a lot more still. And far less cold. I was aware of an odd burning smell in the air and a strange glow. I couldn't work out where it was coming from. "What is this… Blackbeard?" Nyssa asked me.

"He's… he's…" I searched for appropriate words to describe Blackbeard.

"He's right here," said a deep voice from the corner of the room. I screamed and whipped round to look. From out of the shadowy corner stepped a man so terrifying it seemed as if he, himself, was made of pure darkness. The tips of his bushy, raven beard were glowing with fire, which cast sinister shadows onto his twisted features. His eyes were wide, wild. His teeth were bared in a crooked and evil smile. He towered over me. I reached for my sword and then my pistol before realising that I had neither. I backed away from him, bumping into Nyssa. "Ye know where the Fountain is?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yes."

"Take me," he ordered. Nyssa and I exchanged a look. He drew his gun. "Take me to it."

I made no move, but Nyssa turned and reversed whatever she had done to the door. Her eyes were serious. She nodded to me and I moved shakily towards the door. Blackbeard grabbed me and placed his gun to my throat. His beard singed the back of my neck. I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out. We moved slowly out of the room and along the corridor until we reached the big hall with the Fountain in the middle. He chuckled when he saw it.

"Good girls," he muttered. I heard his gun click and even though we had done what he asked I knew that he was about to shoot anyway. I tugged on his arm, trying to pull it away from my throat.

"NO!" I heard a voice. Jack's. I tried to twist myself around so that I could see him, so that I could feel safe. Blackbeard had heard him too. He turned. Jack and Isaacio were some distance away, fighting Redcoats and pirates I did not recognise on the steps where we had first met Isaacio. They started running. Isaacio's hands were outstretched. A strong force knocked us both back. Blackbeard seemed to bear the full force of whatever Isaacio had caused to happen. He let go of me and his gun.

Jack's shouts rang in my ears. "RUN ISABEL. RUN." I scrambled up and started running towards Jack. Jack had his pistol out, he was simultaneously trying to run to me and aim his shot at Blackbeard. I glanced behind me. Blackbeard had rolled over and was reaching for his own pistol. He was grinning in Jack's direction, enjoying himself. I looked back to Jack, I shouted at him to be careful.

I heard the loud crack of a gunshot, felt a searing pain through my back and crumpled to the ground.

* * *

**So... yeah. I might hide for a white.**

**Might not update.  
**

**Might be kidding.  
**

**Might not be.  
**

**Love you all.  
**


	55. Emergency

I couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything, couldn't _feel _anything.

For a moment, it was like I didn't exist.

And then everything- sound, sight, smell- came rushing towards me at once. Everything around me was a blur of colour and noise. The first thing that I became sure of was the pain in my back and chest, and the difficulty I was having breathing. Then I remembered the bullet from Blackbeard's gun, which was now lodged in my right lung. Jack's face came in to focus out of the hazy background. He cradled my head in his arms. I could feel him shaking. I writhed involuntarily on the ground. The pain was almost unbearable. I coughed as fluid filled my lung. I gasped in more air, but it was difficult and made an unsettling rasping sound. Fear gripped me. Jack's eyes locked on mine.

He was scared too.

"Belle… Belle, it's alright… look at me. **Look at me.**" I tried to, but it was really hard. I had to move to cough up blood.

"Jack…" I said when I found the strength to speak. His trembling hands wiped the blood from my mouth.

"It's alright, love. I'm here, it's alright," he was trying his best to sound soothing, but I could see what this was doing to him.

"Jack!" I reached up and put my hand on his cheek. "The baby…." It was all I could think of. "Jack, the baby!"

Isaacio loomed over us and then crouched down to Jack's level. He put a hand on his shoulder. His eyes were full of a great sorrow and understanding. Jack tore his eyes away from mine. "We can still save the baby," Isaacio told him. Jack looked at me, helpless and afraid.

"Yes!" I said immediately. "Yes, please! Isaccio, please!"

He nodded at me, but his expression was solemn. He straightened up and walked away. I tried to lie back and relax, safe in the knowledge that my baby would make it through this even if I didn't, but the wound to my lung and my breathing difficulty made it too hard to lie still. Nyssa's previous promise that I was in safe hands gave me something to cling to. I was grateful that Jack never once let go of me, no matter how violently the pain cause me to twist. I felt cold, horribly cold. Isaacio returned and knelt down opposite Jack. He held something to my lips, but at that moment my lungs filled with blood again.

"You need to drink this, Isabel," Isaacio said gently, placing a hand on my back to help hold me up. I did as I was told and felt my heartbeat slow almost immediately. This slowed the blood that was filling up my lungs and gushing out of the gunshot wound to a trickle. My breathing eased up a little. I looked back to Isaacio as the last of the sour liquid drained from the cup. He glanced briefly at Jack; it was a look that Jack did not return. He was too focussed on me to notice. Isaacio looked grim, but I was already at peace with what I thought I knew was coming. "It will slow the bleeding and eventually close the wound… but… by then with the amount of blood you've lost… I don't think you'll… It will only give us enough time to deliver the babies."

I nodded to show I understood. Then something occurred to me. "Wait… babie**s**?" I repeated. "As in… plural?"

Isaacio smiled, "You're carrying twins. Didn't you know?"

"No," I shook my head, feeling myself smile through the pain. "… but how did you?"

"We just know these things," he shrugged. "I forget that others don't sometimes. It's been a long time since we've had people like you here."

He stood up and walked away again. My slow heartbeat was making me feel drowsy. I allowed my head to relax back on to Jack's lap. He looked down at me helplessly. "You're going to be alright, love. You will."

I'm not sure who he was trying to convince- me or himself. Either way, it wasn't working. My hand felt heavy as I lifted it up and placed it on his cheek. Everything I wanted to tell him, I tried to it with my eyes. His were so lost, confused, scared. His warm hand ran up my arm and covered mine. He rubbed it soothingly and then our fingers intertwined. He lifted my hand away briefly, closed his eyes and kissed it. "You'll be fine," his voice was barely a whisper. His eyes stayed shut, his face crumpled with the grief caused by the knowledge that his words were nothing but hollow lies. "You will be."

His braking heart broke mine.

"Jack," I said softly. "So will you."

He opened his eyes; his tears fell freely as he shook his head. "No, love," his voice was thick with sorrow. His trembling lips met with my forehead. A few of his tears splashed on to my face and ran down to mingle with my own. "Not without you…" I pulled his lips to mine and kissed him fiercely, just in case it was the last time.

"Isabel." Isaacio returned. Jack and I broke apart. Isaacio looked at us apologetically, "I'm sorry… but we don't have much time." He passed me a handful of purple petals that had been dipped in something that glittered and shimmered, but did not smell pleasant. "You need to eat this," he told me. I nodded and raised it all to my lips. I paused. "It won't be pleasant from here on in," he warned me. I nodded again and put all the petals in at once, chewed and swallowed as quickly as possible. It was vile. Truly vile. I wanted to spit it back out again. I retched automatically, but managed to keep it down.

The pain started immediately and it was unlike any other physical pain I had ever experience in my life before. It was excruciating and buried deep within me, seemingly unreachable and incurable. The second it started I cried out and tried to clutch at wherever the pain was, in a vain attempt to dull it. The pain relaxed for a few seconds, but I was ready for it to come back. And it did. Worse than before and longer lasting. Nyssa appeared, leaning over Isaacio's shoulder. "Try to relax," she said gently.

"Are… you… JOKING?" I panted between contractions. My grip on Jack's hand tightened. Isaacio and Nyssa moved down to my legs, to help guide me through it. Gibbs appeared from nowhere and took my other hand. I was so grateful I almost cried. I probably would have done, but there were already tears in my eyes. My body seemed to go into a state of shock where all I knew was pain. It clogged up all my senses. All I could see, smell, hear, taste and feel was pain. Screaming didn't ease what I was experiencing or make it much easier, but I felt like if I didn't scream then I would explode.

It seemed never-ending. I could have been lying there for hours, days, weeks for all I knew. And it intensified with every contraction of my muscles. It was so excruciating that I completely forgot what it felt like _not _to be in pain.

"Ok, Isabel," Nyssa said eventually as sweat stung my eyes. "You can start pushing now."

I did as I was told and the pain changed. It felt like a sharp bolt of lightning shooting through my whole body. Isaacio kept reminding me to breathe, but this was difficult and the only relief it offered me was a pain slightly duller than the one I was already feeling. The urge to push the first baby out of me was overwhelming, even though it seemed to do nothing but make the pain worse. I was so sore, so tired.

"Push!" Nyssa said again. "Harder."

I did it, even though it felt impossible. Isaacio smiled encouragingly. Jack kissed my hand. I noticed that my knuckles were white. I pushed my hardest. I felt a tiny little bit of progress, which encouraged me to keep going until I felt a huge relief and heard a baby start to cry.

Suddenly, it all seemed worth it.

"It's a boy," Nyssa held him up for us to see. I heard Jack gasp. He looked at me with wide, shiny eyes.

"A boy… Isabel…" he almost choked on his words. "We have a son." Tears sprang into his eyes and he had to wipe them away with his sleeve. "Can I hold him?" he whispered.

"In a moment," Nyssa nodded. She disappeared for a second and came back with him wrapped in a clean, white shawl. She passed him slowly to Jack. Jack held him as if he was the most precious thing in the whole world. Which, in a way… he was.

"Look, Belle…" he whispered, mesmerised. "Look, how small he is… look." My baby boy looked at his dad. Jack's smile widened. "He has your eyes… Belle… your beautiful blue eyes."

I smiled, unable to speak. I wanted nothing more than to hold my baby and kiss my husband, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not when I knew that I would never see this little boy… _my _little boy… grow up. I saw my blood on Jack's hand and realised that the blood flowing from the wound on my back was steadily increasing. I became aware of how weak I was.

"Isaacio…" I said with urgency. He understood immediately what was wrong.

"Nyssa," he barked. "We don't have much time."

She took the baby from Jack. The blissful look on his face dissolved in to panic. "Wait… where are you taking him?"

"It's okay," she said soothingly. "He'll be safe. I'll look after him. We just need to keep him out of the way."

Jack looked deeply mistrustful, but my scream as the pain returned distracted him completely. I thought that this one was slightly easier, but I couldn't be sure. I was feeling so weak, so tired, so exhausted that the pain hardly registered with me.

I could already feel myself beginning to drift away.

I was surrounded by my own blood. There was so much of it. I was so tired, but I carried on. Thoughts of Jack and our family's wellbeing were the only thing that kept me going, but I was getting drowsy. Getting numb.

"A girl," Nyssa said. For a moment I smiled, but something about her voice stopped me. Her tone was grave. Jack frowned and I realised something.

She wasn't crying.

"No…" I said, my voice was barely a whisper. "No…" Jack's arms wrapped around me.

"I'm sorry," Isaacio said sincerely as he held my daughter's still body in his arms.

My baby was dead.

In the half-conscious stage I was slipping in to I heard a voice I hoped I would never hear again. That infuriating one from the maze.

"Seventeen heartbeats beating loud and steady  
Little do they know one of them's dead already."

_All this time… My darling little girl had been dead all this time._

I lay back. The strength left every muscle in my body so that I couldn't even feel them anymore. The light began to fade from around me.

"Isabel!" Jack shouted. "Stay with me, darlin'… Please… don't leave me." I didn't have the strength to reply. His wild eyes looked around for help. I studied his face and felt calm. He couldn't keep his eyes away from me for long.

"Isaacio!" Gibbs shouted.

"The wound's closing, but… she's lost too much blood. I'm so sorry," was the reply I had been expecting. He'd prepared me for it.

Everything sounded quieter than it should.

"DO SOMETHING!" Jack screamed at Isaacio in desperation. His tears were falling thick and fast. I wanted to comfort him, to help him and heal him, but I didn't even have the strength to keep my eyes open for much longer.

"There's nothing we can do," Isaacio walked away. It was so final.

"No…" Jack whimpered, gently touching my face and rocking me slightly. "No… Belle, hold on… you can't… I don't… I need you…."

I took a deep and painful breath, summoning the last of my remaining strength. "Jack," I whispered, but that was as far as I got before my eyes shut and I slipped away. The light vanished from everything and all sound stopped completely. I could feel my conscious thoughts, everything I was, disintegrating. It was as if my conscious being was breaking up and drifting away, like ashes scattered in the wind.

No time for one last "I love you."

Not even time for a short farewell.

I lay still in my husband's arms as Jack dissolved into his grief.


End file.
